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. PIN-MONEY . 
SUGGESTIONS 



LILIAN W.BABC 




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Pin-Money Suggestions 



Pin - Money Suggestions 



BY 
LILIAN W. BABCOCK 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1912 



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Copyright, 1912, 
By Little, Brown, and Company. 

^// rights reserved 



Published, May, 191 2 



Electrot y ped and Printed by 
THE COLONIAL PRESS 
C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U. S. A. 



CCLA3144! I 



FOREWORD 

A woman wishing to earn money at home should 
first carefully consider many things: her aptitude 
for certain lines of work; her strength; the amount 
of time she can afford to devote to this new work 
daily, etc. She should also consider her surround- 
ings, and the needs and purses of her neighbors. 

It is the purpose of this book to encourage the 
thousands, and hundreds of thousands of women 
who desire to take up some remunerative line of 
work during their leisure hours, either as a means 
of self-support, or to enable them to earn the extra 
pin-money, which will warrant their taking some 
long desired trip, some course of study or to spend 
on the thousand and one little things which 
bring so much pleasure into one's life. 

The following practical suggestions have been 
furnished by women workers all over the world, 
and are offered to others as successful methods, 
by which money may be earned, both in the city 
and in the country. 

Lilian Whitney Babcock. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Home Cooking i 

II. Homemade Candy and Nut Goodies . 34 

III. Toilet Accessories 46 

IV. A Living from Needlework . . 61 
V. Raising Flowers, Fruits, and Vege- 
tables 89 

VI. Raising Stock and Breeding Pets . 143 

VII. Arts and Crafts at Home . . . 168 

VIII. Teaching . 211 

IX. For Varying Tastes .... 227 

Index . 277 



PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

CHAPTER I 

HOME COOKING 

Home cooking always pays. The old-fashioned 
cooking appeals to almost everyone. The serv- 
ant girl problem will always remain a perplexing 
one, and the woman who likes to cook has a clear 
path to success open before her. 

In every community there is some woman 
whose bread surpasses that mixed in any other 
household; another whose cake is invariably a 
marvel of lightness, or whose flaky and delicious 
pie-crust is the despair of other housewives. 
Such fortunate cooks can almost invariably find 
a ready market for their cooking, if they will let 
it be known that it is for sale. Hundreds of 
women have tried this method of earning pin- 
money successfully, and one cook sends her 
recipes for others to try. 

" The following recipes are my standbys and if 
carefully followed there will be no difficulty in 
getting top prices for these home baked goodies." 



2 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD 

Three pints of whole wheat flour, one quart of 
white flour, one cup of sugar, one cup of molasses, 
one tablespoonful of salt, one mixing spoon heap- 
ing full of lard, one yeast-cake, lukewarm water 
for mixing. 

Break yeast-cake in cup of lukewarm water and 
place lard in a quart of warm water, and set on 
shelf over stove for a while to keep warm and 
dissolve. 

Place the two kinds of flour in a large mixing 
bowl. Add salt, sugar, molasses, also yeast-cake 
and lard, including water they have dissolved in. 
Mix all together with a spoon. More warm water 
may have to be added as this bread is made softer 
than white bread. Cover and set in a warm place 
to rise over night. 

In the morning let it rise again in pans before bak- 
ing. Handle dough very little when putting in pans. 

A ready market awaits any woman who can 
make this delicious, wholesome bread. 

REAL OLD-FASHIONED RAISED MUFFINS 

i Pint Milk 4 Cupfuls Flour 

1 Tablespoonful Butter yi Yeast-cake 

1 Tablespoonful Sugar ^ Cupful Water 

1 Rounding Teaspoonful Salt 2 Eggs 

To have these muffins ready for breakfast you 
must, of course, mix them the night before, 



HOME COOKING 3 

setting them to rise about nine o'clock. You 
will need to have the milk tepid, and dissolve the 
butter in it. Put the flour, sugar, and salt into a 
lipped bowl. Having dissolved the yeast in the 
water, add it to the milk and butter and pour the 
mixture on the flour. Beat well, and add the eggs, 
well beaten. Cover, and let rise in a warm place. 
In the morning put the batter in well-buttered 
muffin-tins and let it rise for thirty or forty min- 
utes; then bake in a moderate oven for about 
twenty-five minutes. 

If you should wish to have the muffins for some 
other meal they will rise in four or five hours in a 
temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit; but 
you would need for your mixture half a cake of 
yeast. 

SWEET CORN MUFFINS 

1 Cupful Cornmeal 4 Tablespoonf uls Sugar 
i}4 Cupfuls Flour 1 Teaspoonful Soda 

2 Cupfuls Milk 2 Teaspoonfuls Cream of Tartar 
2 Tablespoonfuls Butter j4 Teaspoonful Salt 

3 Eggs 

Do not be niggardly in measuring your corn- 
meal for these muffins. Let the cupful be one 
that is heaped a bit. Mix the meal and all the 
other dry ingredients except the soda and sugar, 
and rub the mixture through a sieve. Having 
done this, beat the butter and sugar together 



4 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

until creamy; then add the yolks of the eggs and 
beat well. Beat the whites to a froth. After 
dissolving the soda in the milk, stir the milk in 
with the sugar, butter, and egg mixture. Now add 
those dry materials which were sifted. Beat 
well, and finally stir in the whites of the eggs. 
Put into buttered muffin-tins and bake in a quick 
oven for about half an hour. 

GRAHAM MUFFINS 
To one pint of cold milk add one and one-half 
pints of graham flour, one teaspoonful of sugar, 
half a teaspoonful of salt and one teaspoonful 
of melted lard, butter, or cottolene. Stir and 
beat well and lastly sift in two teaspoonfuls of 
baking powder. Stir so as to mix evenly through 
the dough. Put into muffin pans well greased 
and bake in a moderate oven half an hour. 

MUFFINS 

One quart of flour, two eggs, one pint of milk, 
one spoonful of butter, one of sugar, two spoonfuls 
of cream of tartar, one spoonful of soda; heat 
tins very hot; bake in fifteen minutes. 
ENGLISH MUFFINS 

One cup of mashed potato, three eggs, two cups 
of water, one yeast-cake, half a cup of sugar, 
three-quarters cup of lard or cottolene, half a 
teaspoonful of salt, flour for a sponge. 



HOME COOKING 5 

Beat the lard into the potato while the latter 
is hot, add the salt, sugar, and water. Beat the 
eggs, stir them in and then add the flour. Beat 
hard, add the yeast, previously dissolved in half 
a cup of tepid water. If you have a Universal 
Cake Mixer, you may put all the ingredients into 
it at once, and beat together, adding the flour 
last. This makes a sponge or soft batter and must 
be set aside, well covered, for two hours, or until 
light. When light, change the beater in^the cake 
mixer for the kneader and turn in enough flour 
for a soft dough, that may be dropped from a 
spoon. Set aside again until light, turn the kneader 
a few times and remove it. 

Have ready well-greased muffin rings, set on 
a baking sheet, drop a spoonful of dough into each 
one, until it is half full; set in a warm place until 
they rise to the top of the rings, when they are 
ready to bake. This quantity will make three 
dozen muffins, 

POP -OVERS 

One cup of milk, two eggs, one cup of sifted 
flour, half a teaspoonful of melted butter, half 
a teaspoonful of salt. 

Beat eggs just enough to mix yolks and whites; 
add milk and salt. Add this mixture gradually 
to the flour, stirring hard. 



6 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Beat until the batter is smooth. Have muffin 
pans very hot and well greased, fill three-quar- 
ters full and bake forty minutes. 

This quantity makes ten pop-overs. 

GRAHAM ROLLS 
One cup of ice water, half a teaspoonful of salt, 
enough graham flour to make a thick batter. 
Beat lightly and bake in a very hot oven. 

CORN CAKE 

One cup of Indian meal, two cups of flour, half 
a cup of sugar, one cup of milk, one egg, two 
spoonfuls of cream of tartar, one spoonful of 
soda, pinch of salt. 

GRANDMOTHER'S DOUGHNUTS 

Two-thirds of a cup of sour milk; one cup of 
sugar, a piece of butter the size of a walnut 
(melted), one egg, one teaspoonful of soda; use 
nutmeg for spicing; only use flour enough to 
keep the dough very soft. Have the fat so hot 
that the cakes will rise to the surface as soon as 
dropped in. 

THE KIND OF DOUGHNUTS THAT SELL 

One cup of sugar; one and a half cups of milk; 
a level teaspoonful of salt, one or two eggs, three 



HOME COOKING 7 

teaspoonfuls of baking-powder; one-half teaspoon- 
ful of grated nutmeg, or a pinch of ginger. Flour 
for very soft dough. 

Beat egg and add milk and sugar. 

Sift together two cups of flour with salt, spice, 
and baking-powder, and beat this into the mix- 
ture; add enough flour for very soft dough. Have 
the molding board well covered with flour. Roll 
thin and cut with a doughnut cutter. 

MY GRANDMOTHER SHEPHERD'S PLUM 
PUDDING 

" This recipe is nearly one hundred years old 
and unknown till now, I believe, to anyone but 
myself." 

Butter thickly a four-quart pudding dish; fill 
the dish nearly half full of warm milk; add ten 
of the thick, common Boston crackers, pounded 
fine; eight well beaten eggs; half a cup of mo- 
lasses; sufficient brown sugar to make it very 
sweet. Spice to taste (nutmeg prominent) and 
season with salt. Mix the above, and after stand- 
ing an hour, add two and three-quarter pounds 
of raisins (this weight after being picked) ; butter 
the size of a small egg; if the pan is not full, add 
a little milk. Bake in a slow oven from three to 
four hours. 

As soon as it begins to bake on the top, stir it 



8 PIN- MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

so the raisins may not settle to the bottom. Con- 
tinue this every little while until sufficiently baked 
to have the raisins retain their places. When 
through stirring, pour a little sweetened milk 
over the top. Let it remain in the oven about 
three hours after. This pudding is to be eaten 
with a rich sauce. Put on table whole and slice 
like rich plum cake. This will keep for days and 
is delicious. It sells readily. 

BOILED SUET PUDDING 
One cup of chopped suet, one cup of sweet 
milk, one cup of molasses, a little less than four 
cups of flour, one teaspoonful of soda. Boil two 
hours. One cup of currants or chopped raisins im- 
proves this. — Contributed. 

CRUMPETS 
Take three teacups of raised dough and work 
into it with the hand half a teacup of melted but- 
ter, three eggs and enough milk to render it a 
thick batter. Turn into a buttered pan and let 
stand for fifteen minutes, then put this into a 
baking pan, heated so as to scorch flour. It will 
bake in half an hour. — Contributed. 

SUPERIOR JUMBLES 

Four eggs, one cup of butter, three cups of 
white sugar, two teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, 



HOME COOKING 9 

one teaspoonful soda, half a cup of milk, flour 
enough to roll out easily; cut into the shape of 
cookies; before cutting, wet the dough and sift 
over it a little powdered sugar. — Contributed. 

JUMBLES 

Two cups of sugar, one cup of butter, three 
eggs, half a cup of sour milk; flavor; add suffi- 
cient flour to make it stiff enough to roll out. 

GINGER SNAPS 
One cup of molasses, one cup of sugar, one cup 
of lard, one tablespoonful of vinegar, two tea- 
spoonfuls of ginger, two teaspoonfuls of soda, one 
egg and a little salt; flour enough to stiffen. — 
Contributed. 

SOFT GINGER BREAD 
Two cups of molasses, one cup of lard or butter, 
one cup of milk, cne egg, two teaspoonfuls of 
ginger, one of salt, and one of soda, four cups of 
flour. 

PHILADELPHIA SAND WAFERS 
One cup of butter, two cups sugar, half a cup of 
milk, teaspoonful of soda, five cups of flour. 

SPONGE CAKE 

Three eggs, one and one-half cups of sugar, two 
cups of flour, half a cup of cold water, one tea- 



10 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

spoonful cream of tartar, half a teaspoonful of sal- 
eratus. Beat the sugar and the eggs together; 
add the water when these are light, then the 
flour, to which soda and cream of tartar have 
been added. Flavor with lemon and bake in a 
quick oven. — Contributed. 

SPICE CAKE 

Beat together one cup of sugar and one quar- 
ter pound of butter; add three eggs and about 
a pint of flour; add one teaspoonful of cream 
of tartar and half a teaspoonful of soda to half a 
cup of sweet milk; stir into the flour; add a table- 
spoonful of cloves and cinnamon mixed, and half 
a nutmeg. To this add a large spoonful of wine or 
brandy if desired. — Contributed. 

COOKING FOR THE SICK 

" My work is cooking solely for the sick and 
convalescent. There is a constant demand for 
my diabetic bread and rolls, and for my broths 
and jellies of all kinds. I have called upon the 
physicians in our city, explaining my work to 
them, and the result is that most of my patronage 
comes through their recommendation. Among 
the many dishes I prepare are the following: 
beef extract and albumen water; egg lemonade; 
Irish moss blanc-mange; wine jelly; calves' foot 



HOME COOKING 11 

jelly; cup custard; jellied chicken broth; beef tea; 
mutton broth; clam broth; wine, whey and tapioca 
jelly." 

THE WAY TO MAKE AND SELL JELLY 

A good jelly maker can make more than pin- 
money by the sale of home-made jelly. If 
the following directions are carried out the jelly 
will always be a success. 

All fruit must first be washed, and the bad 
spots, such as worm holes and specks, cut out. 
Strawberries, currants, grapes, and fruits of this 
kind must be stemmed before cooking. 

Large fruits, such as apples, crab-apples, quinces, 
etc., must be quartered but not peeled, and the 
seeds must be left in. Put the washed fruit into 
an agate or porcelain kettle, and cover within an 
inch of the top of the fruit with cold water. Place 
on the stove where it will cook slowly and evenly 
until the fruit is translucent and soft. Grapes 
and berries are cooked until broken. Have ready 
a flannel straining-bag, taking a square piece of 
flannel twenty-seven by twenty-seven inches, 
fold it to make a three-cornered bag, stitch one 
of the sides, cut the top square across, bind the 
opening with strong, broad tape, and stitch on 
this binding, four tapes with which to tie to a 
frame. To use the bag, tie it to a strong frame or 



12 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

to the backs of two kitchen chairs. If the chairs 
are used, place some heavy articles in them. 
Or it may hang on a pole (a broom handle) 
which rests on the backs of the chairs. Before 
the strainer is used it should be washed and 
boiled in pure water. Place a dish below the 
bag and pour the fruit juice into it; this will 
pass through comparatively clear. 

Now measure the juice, put in a clean kettle, 
and for every quart of liquid, measure out one 
quart of sugar. Put the kettle on the stove. Do 
not cover at any time during the process of jelly 
making. When it has boiled ten minutes, during 
which it must be skimmed several times, put the 
pan of sugar in the oven to heat, being careful 
that it does not burn. 

Continue boiling, skimming constantly for ten 
more minutes, making twenty minutes in all. 
Now take the pan of sugar from the oven; this 
should be hot but not browned in the least. 
Pour the sugar slowly into the liquid, stirring 
constantly. The hot sugar will hiss as it goes 
into the juice. When the sugar is all in, stop stir- 
ring and let the jelly boil five more minutes; it 
should then drop from the spoon in thick chunks. 

Wring out a piece of cheese cloth in boiling water 
and place over a pitcher. Skim the jelly once 
more and pour it through the cheese cloth. If 



HOME COOKING 13 

any jelly is left in the kettle, place on the back 
of the stove to keep hot, while pouring the 
liquid from the pitcher into glasses. Place a 
silver spoon in each tumbler, while pouring in 
jelly, to prevent the glass from breaking. After 
it is all poured out, skim off the air bubbles with 
a silver spoon. Do not disturb the glasses until 
the jelly jells which may be the second day after 
it is made; this depends upon the weather. 
When the jelly is firm, melt paraffin and pour a 
thin coating over each glass. Be sure to label 
the tumblers. 

Grape jelly is nicer if one quart of apple juice 
is added to three quarts of grape juice. In making 
elderberry jelly, add half apple juice. 

While jelly is being made, get the smallest 
glasses, that you can buy at the five and ten cent 
store (two or three for five cents). Fill these tiny 
glasses, and write cards like this: 

" Miss wishes to announce that she is 

ready to supply you with the following home-made 
jellies. 

NAME PRICE 

" Grape, per dozen, $3.00 
" Quince, per dozen, $3.00 
" Apple, per dozen, $2.50 " 

Mark the small glasses u Sample; Jelly sold in 
full-sized glasses." Attach the cards to these 



14 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

glasses and send them to the Woman's Ex- 
change, nice hotels, boarding-houses, schools 
for wealthy girls, and rich private families. 

" We tried this and had more orders than we 
could fill." 

GRAPE JUICE 

" We have several grape vines on our place 
which bear heavily every year. This fall I made 
and sold about ten gallons of grape juice. In 
making this, I take ten pounds of the grapes and 
add three cupfuls of water, and a pound of sugar. 
The grapes are allowed to cook until thoroughly 
crushed. The juice is then strained through a 
jelly bag and again allowed to boil. The sugar 
is now added, and a,fter boiling ten minutes the 
juice is put into pint and half pint bottles, and 
tightly sealed." 

PRESERVING FIGS 

" In Florida, on one of the large plantations, 
a plucky little woman is preserving whole figs, 
and selling them in quart jars to the Northern 
trade. Some of the figs are preserved plain, the 
balance with ginger. She could sell many 
times the number of jars now shipped, provided 
she had the health, and help to extend her 
work." 



HOME COOKING 15 

EVAPORATING FRUIT 

" The evaporating of fruit on a small scale is 
interesting work and work which provides me 
with all of my Christmas money each year. 

" The sun-drying method is old-fashioned. 
I use a portable evaporator for fruit of all kinds. 
With the exception of the bottom and firebox, 
our evaporator is made of wood. It is three feet 
wide and five feet long, and two feet high above 
the firebox. 

" This box contains five trays, each two inches 
deep. The frames of the trays are of wood, and 
the bottoms of galvanized wire netting. The cover 
and bottom of the evaporator are supplied with 
holes for ventilation. As soon as the fruit is 
peeled and sliced, it is subjected to the fumes of 
burning sulphur for a half hour, or until the 
pieces are very white. This is accomplished by 
putting the trays of the fruit in a tight box and 
burning the sulphur below. A half pound of 
sulphur is required to bleach a hundred pounds 
of the green fruit. Coal or wood may be burned 
in the furnace beneath the evaporator. 

" About six hours are required to thoroughly 
dry the fruit." 

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM 

" This is the way a friend of mine makes her 
pin-money. Only a year ago she made enough to 






16 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

have her house repainted. She lives in a city of 
about ten thousand population. From March 
15th to November 1st she makes ice cream or an 
ice of some kind (three gallons, some days, and 
when it is very warm as much as eight gallons) 
and places this on sale in one or two of the drug- 
stores. It is known she makes these ices and they 
are always delicious, so the drug-store receives the 
patronage of a large portion of the population. She 
also takes orders for private parties, making both 
cakes and whatever ice or ice cream is preferred. 
As this requires only from two to four hours a 
day she can attend to her household duties and 
always has all her afternoons free for callers or 
social duties or exercise." — Mrs. D. F. 

JAPANESE TEA WAFERS 
" Last summer I earned quite a snug little sum 
in this way. First I made Japanese Tea Wafers. 
These are very similar in looks and taste to the 
cones used for ice cream, only they are far nicer 
than the boughten ones. 

" Break the white of one egg in a bowl. Add one 
tablespoonful of sugar, stir a minute, and then 
add one tablespoonful of flour and one-half tea- 
spoonful of softened butter, beat until well mixed. 
(It should be about as thick as cream.) Pour a 
teaspoonful of this batter on the reverse side of a 



HOME COOKING 17 

large baking pan slightly greased, and with the 
back of the spoon spread it until about four inches 
in diameter and almost as thin as tissue paper. 
Bake in a moderate oven till brown, and while 
still hot, roll around a new curling iron into a horn. 
This is very easily done. These horns I filled 
with home-made ice cream and sold for five cents 
apiece. They sold like hot cakes, the days I made 
them." 

A WAFFLE KITCHEN 

" My home is in Pittsburg. A few years ago 
I found I must earn my own living or starve. A 
newspaper man suggested my opening a 6 waffle 
kitchen ' in ' Newspaper Row.' The advice was 
followed, and I now have a modest home and a 
small bank account. 

" The waffle irons must be very hot and well 
greased, using the butter brush to reach into 
every depression. Pour the batter from a pitcher 
until the iron is lightly covered. Close the irons 
and turn them over. If the irons are heated just 
right, the waffles should bake in three minutes. 

"Never wash a waffle iron, but rub clean with 
salt and put away in a paper bag. 

" The following recipe is a good one. Three 
cups of flour; two eggs; one tablespoonful of 
melted butter; two cups of milk; one and a half 



18 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

teaspoonfuls of baking-powder; one-third tea- 
spoonful of salt. 

" Mix and sift dry ingredients, adding milk 
gradually, yolks of eggs well beaten, butter and 
whites of eggs beaten stiff and folded in. Bake 
at once." 

BIRTHDAY CAKE 

" My home is in a New Jersey town where there 
are many well-to-do families. Recently my little 
daughter celebrated her tenth birthday by having 
a large party. I had made her a birthday cake for 
the occasion. This cake was greatly admired by 
the children. 

" Shortly after the party, one of the mothers 
asked me where the cake had been purchased. 
On learning that the cake was home-made, she 
expressed great surprise. I offered to make one 
for her even prettier than Ruth's. From that 
day to this the demand for my birthday cake 
has increased. My prices vary from $2.00 to 
$5.00 for a cake. By the aid of the pastry tube 
the cakes are prettily decorated. The child's 
name or initials, together with the figures of the 
birth year, may be made with ordinary icing, 
colored and made a trifle stiffer than usual. A 
wreath may be made around the edge of little 
roses or daisies. It is an easy matter to use the 



HOME COOKING 19 

pastry tube. The icing is poured into the tube or 
bag, and the bag is given a twist until the icing 
begins to ooze out of the end of the tube. One 
need only move the hand about, or back and forth 
in one place, until the rose or star, or whatever 
is desired takes shape." 

WHITE MOUNTAIN CAKES 

" My old-fashioned White Mountain cakes, with 
soft, creamy icing sell for one dollar each. These 
are sold to private customers and through our 
local grocery store. These cakes supply me with 
all my pin-money." 

ORANGE FILLING 

" A delicious orange filling for cakes is made 
as follows: Boil two cupfuls of granulated sugar 
with half a cup of water, until the syrup will 
thread when tested. Beat the yolks of three 
eggs very light and slowly pour the syrup into 
these, stirring constantly. Beat this mixture 
until it is stiff and cool. Then add the grated 
rind of two oranges and the juice of one. A little 
lemon juice improves the flavor." 

INDIVIDUAL SHORTCAKES 
" During the strawberry season I serve little 



20 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

individual shortcakes in my Tea Room. These 
are made as follows: 

2 Cupfuls of Sifted Flour i Tablespoonful of Lard 

2 Tablespoonfuls of Sugar i Tablespoonful of Butter 

y 2 Teaspoonful of Salt y 2 Cup of Milk 

2>£ Teaspoonfuls of Baking >^ Cup of Water 
Powder 

" Bake in small cakes the size of tea biscuits. Split 
and fill with well sweetened, crushed fruit. Also 
cover the top with the crushed berries." 

PIN-MONEY PICKLES 

The " Pin-money Pickles " which have been 
sold in all the best stores in Boston and New 
York for several years are made by a Southern 
woman. They are made from very small cucum- 
bers which are covered with sharp points like a 
baby procupine. These " Pin-money Pickles " 
have had a wide sale and have made this woman 
independent financially. 

PIN-MONEY PICCALILLI 

" Every fall I earn over fifty dollars from the 
sale of my green tomato piccalilli, made from 
tomatoes raised in my garden. In making this, 
I slice a peck of large green tomatoes and half 
a peck of onions. Each layer of tomatoes and on- 



HOME COOKING 21 

ions is salted well, the whole standing over night. 
The next morning, the water is drained off. These 
are covered with two-thirds cider vinegar and 
one-third water; sugar is added to make it suf- 
ficiently sweet (about four cups); also one box 
of whole mixed spices. Boil until the onions and 
tomatoes are tender, and can while hot." 

COTTAGE CHEESE 

Take two quarts of thick, solid, sour milk, 
and add two cups of hot water. Pour this into a 
jelly bag, and hang the bag where it may drip 
for several hours. When the whey has all dripped 
from it, turn into a bowl and beat it smooth with 
a fork. If too dry, add a little cream and season 
with salt. Made into little pats, wrapped in 
oiled paper, and then in tin foil, they will sell 
readily to the stores or private families. 

ENGLISH CREAM CHEESE 
Another cheese which can be sold is made as 
follows: Very thick cream is poured carefully 
into a bag which is hung up with a basin under- 
neath to catch the whey, in a cool room or cellar. 
The air in the room must be pure, as the cream 
easily absorbs odors. When the whey is partly 
drained off, the bag is twisted tight, and bound so 



22 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

as to dry the curd more. Then, after twenty- 
four to forty-eight hours, according to tempera- 
ture and the consistency of the cream, the 
" cheese " is ready to eat, and may be molded 
as desired. This is hardly cheese, as no rennet 
is used. Perhaps it should be called a " sour 
cream curd." 

POTATO CHIPS 

" A few years ago I learned of a way for earning 
extra money by women in the home, which I 
consider a most excellent plan. In making some 
purchases at the grocery store I noticed a large 
box labeled ' Potato Chips/ the price of which I 
found was thirty cents a pound. The grocer 
informed me that they had cost him twenty-five 
cents a pound, besides the freight. 

" I purchased a potato slicer and in the morn- 
ing made some potato chips, keeping count ex- 
actly of their cost and found it to be twelve cents 
a pound. If I could sell fifty pounds a week it 
would mean a profit of six dollars. I took a sample 
to the grocer and he thought them excellent and 
gave me an order. At first I made them in small 
lots, but later in large ones. I would slice the 
potatoes in the evening and put them in cold 
water overnight to draw out the starch. Very 
soon I found I could make a good deal of money in 



HOME COOKING 23 

this way, and not work more than three half days 
in the week. I live in a town of about ten thousand 
inhabitants, so my sales would not be as great 
as in a larger place, but here in my own town I 
make a profit of from six to eight dollars a week." 



SOUTHERN BEATEN BISCUIT 

" When it became necessary for me to earn my 
living and do it at home, I gathered together all 
my resources. Unfortunately, brought up as I 
had been, in the greatest comfort in the South, 
where ' ladies ' do not do manual work, I found 
myself ' wanting.' But the desire to do was 
strong, and the need great, so I looked up the 
needs of the community in which I lived, and 
found the greatest was for good home-made 
bread. So I went to work with a will, and made 
' Maryland Biscuits ' just as I had seen them 
made in my home in the old days, and used the 
same recipe every Southern cook uses: Two 
pounds of flour, one-fourth pound of lard, half 
a teaspoonful of salt, and enough water to make 
a very stiff dough. Beat for twenty minutes on 
a block with an ax; make into biscuits, and bake 
for twenty minutes in a very hot oven. 

" I made them fresh every morning in time for 
breakfast. By beginning in a small way, I now 



24 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

have all the orders I can fill. I make and sell 
from twenty to sixty dozen each and every day, 
with the exception of Sunday. All my orders are 
filled by twelve o'clock noon, and the balance of 
the day is mine. I clear seven cents on each 
dozen. I sell through a popular grocer, paying 
him ten per cent, for his trouble, and I sell only 
perfect biscuits; just the right size and just the 
right color, snow-white inside, with a delicate 
brown top and bottom. " Any woman who can 
make good bread, and will make it regularly, can 
earn her living." 

" I know a woman of one of the most aristo- 
cratic families of the South, who makes black- 
walnut taffy several times a week, and sends it to 
a large grocery store in New York City, where it 
is sold almost as soon as it arrives. She lives on a 
farm where the walnuts grow, so her expense is 
lessened, but she gets a fine price for her candy." 



SUNDAY DESSERT 

" I have been quite successful in earning a little 
money at home by making a fancy dessert on 
Saturday and taking orders for Sunday dinners. 
This is the recipe: one-fourth pound of blanched 
almonds, one dozen marshmallows, one dozen 
candied cherries, half a dozen macaroons. 



HOME COOKING 25 

" Clip all of these rather fine with the scissors, 
put in vessel and stand aside. Dissolve one 
rounded tablespoonful of granulated gelatin in 
one-fourth cupful of cold water, add one-fourth 
cupful of boiling water, and add to this one 
cupful of sugar. Stir till dissolved and stand aside 
to cool. Whip one pint cream stiff, add gelatin- 
mixture, almonds, cherries, macaroons and marsh- 
mallows, and beat until thoroughly mixed, flavor 
with vanilla and pour into mold. Set on ice or in 
cold place, and in a few hours it can be turned 
out and cut into perfect slices. This is a very 
attractive and delicious dessert. You will find 
that some persons, where there are only three or 
four in family, would rather buy something like 
this than to bother making a dessert for Sunday 
dinner. This recipe will not cost over sixty-five 
cents and will make ten or twelve slices at ten 
cents a slice. One trial will bring you regular 
customers. If one could get orders to furnish 
it in quantities for parties it could be furnished 
cheaper, and one could still make a profit." 

FISH-BALLS 

" Every Saturday I made fish-balls and sold 
them to my friends and at last one of the stores 
took as many dozen as I could spare. I used the 
following rule: 



26 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

" Twice as much potato cut in thick slices as 
fish. Use boneless fish and pick in small pieces, 
but do not chop. Wash the fish in cold water 
but do not soak it in the water. Next add the 
sliced raw potato and cover with cold water. 
Be sure the water more than covers the contents 
of the kettle. Boil without stirring until the po- 
tatoes are soft. Take from fire, drain off the water, 
add pepper, one egg to each two quarts of potato. 
(Break egg in raw without beating.) Then mash 
and make into flat cakes with the hands. Roll 
in flour and fry in hot fat in spider. These sold 
for three cents apiece. Every one pronounced 
them fine." 



BEANS AND BROWN BREAD 

" For the bright, clever girl, who must stay at 
home, the ways to earn pin-money are legion. 
At the age of seventeen while attending school, our 
family finances became such that I found it neces- 
sary to help. I am a New England girl and nearly 
all of the families in the town in which I live 
follow the old New England custom of having 
Boston brown bread and baked beans Saturday 
night for supper and ' fish balls ' Sabbath morning 
for breakfast. There are a great many wealthy 
families in L , and the servant girl question 



HOME COOKING 27 

bids fair to remain unsolved for many years to 
come. Our local bakery did a rushing business 
and I saw no reason why I could not make a 
specialty of the beans and bread. 

" It is sufficient to say that my Saturdays are 
fully occupied and I have over thirty regular 
customers. My beans were prepared in the fol- 
lowing manner: Two quarts of very small pea- 
beans were put on to simmer, early in the morn- 
ing. These were allowed to simmer gently until 
the skins would burst. This is determined by 
taking a few of the beans in a spoon, and blow- 
ing them. Drain off the water in which they 
have been cooked; add a pound of fat salt pork, 
which has been scalded. Cut through the rind 
of the pork making small squares, which will 
nicely brown while the beans are baking. Put 
into the pot, burying the pork in the beans. 
Add a half cup of molasses, a half cup of sugar, 
a tablespoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of 
mustard. Cover with boiling water. 

" Watch them carefully if the oven is hot, 
and add boiling water as the beans are cooking, 
so that they do not dry out and burn. It requires 
about six hours to bake them in a moderately 
hot* oven. About an hour before they are to 
be taken from the oven, remove the cover from 
the bean pot, allowing the pork to nicely brown. 



28 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

BOSTON BROWN BREAD 

y A Cup of Rye Meal y± Tablespoonful of Soda 

*% Cups of Granulated Corn i Teaspoonful of Salt 

Meal }i Cup of Molasses 

i Cup of Graham Flour i% Cups of Sweet Milk 

" Mix and sift dry ingredients, add molasses and 
milk, stir until well mixed, turn into a well but- 
tered mold, and steam three and one-half hours. 
Never fill the tin in which the bread is steamed 
more than two-thirds full. One pound baking- 
powder boxes, or a five pound lard pail can be 
used as molds." 

PICNIC LUNCHES 

" A neat sign 6 Picnic Lunches ' tells my story. 
A park, a lake, brooks or rivers for fishing, call 
forth many people who like to have a picnic, but 
for one reason or another cannot pack a lunch. 

" It is well to keep on hand a supply of bread, 
cheese or cold meats, etc., for sandwiches, cake 
or little pies. A fisherman may happen along at 
any hour, but, of course, special orders receive 
more attention. Neat white paper napkins, 
waxed paper, and boxes are requisites. 

" The latter, similar to those used by grocers 
for eggs, may be obtained reasonably from box 
factories. Prices will vary, but twenty-five cents 
should buy a substantial lunch for one person." 

Mrs. F. 



HOME COOKING 29 

EMPLOYEES' LUNCHES 
" My home is near a factory, and I have earned 
quite a little money by serving fifteen cent lunches 
to the women who work in the mill. I also have 
some thirty-five regular customers for my twenty- 
five cent lunch. These lunches are wrapped in 
oil paper and neatly boxed and delivered between 
eleven and twelve daily." 

OYSTER LUNCH 

" My income is from a small lunch counter 
in Philadelphia, where only oysters are served. 
These are served on the half shell, as a pan 
roast, or in a stew. There is one hundred per 
cent, profit on every sale." 

PEANUT BUTTER 

" I have made and sold a great quantity of 

peanut butter this year. The butter is made 

from freshly roasted peanuts, very finely ground. 

This is put into jelly glasses and tightly sealed." 

A SCHOOL LUNCH COUNTER 

A New Jersey woman is earning her pin-money 
by conducting a school lunch counter. 

At recess the children can buy hot cocoa for 
three cents a cup, delicious soup or broth for five 
cents a cup, milk for three cents a glass, buns for 



30 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

a cent apiece; a variety of sandwiches are fur- 
nished through the week. The children are par- 
ticularly fond of a jelly sandwich, sprinkled with 
chopped nuts. The fig sandwich has also found 
favor with the little ones. 

Oranges, bananas, and baked apples are served 
as dessert. A nice little sum is netted weekly from 
this school lunch counter. 

QUICK LUNCH STAND 

The following suggestion may help some woman 
to earn her living. For a small sum, a quick lunch 
stand may be rented in the banking or office dis- 
tricts of our cities. Here one can sell sandwiches 
of all kinds for five cents each; pie for five cents 
a cut; coffee or milk for five cents, and two wheat 
cakes or a bowl of broth for five cents; there is 
no reason in the world why a woman cannot clear 
from #5.00 to #10.00 a day in this manner. 

LUNCH AND DINNER 

Two fortunes have been made during the past- 
thirty years by a woman in New York City 
who serves the public with a delicious forty-cent 
lunch and a sixty-cent dinner. Every lunch is 
the same, three hundred and sixty-five days a 
year. Every dinner is the same. No bill of fare 
is given one to select from. Dinner is served at 



HOME COOKING 31 

night from six to twelve o'clock. Wine is served 
at noon and night. There is always music to 
entertain, either piano, violin, or singing. 

TEA ROOM 

Eight hundred dollars a year is the present 
income from a tea-room conducted by a young 
woman in Massachusetts. The walls of her room 
are a restful pale green and the woodwork is white. 
The tables and chairs are green with bright chintz 
cushions. Flowers are on every table. The 
table linen is plain and perfectly laundered. The 
tea menu is as follows: 

Formosa Oolong, Island of Formosa 
Darjeeling India, Finest India Grown 
English Breakfast, Fancy Ningehow 
Ceylon, Orange Pehok 

Pot for One, 20c; Pot for Two, 25c; Pot for Three, 30c. 
Cocoa with Whipped Cream, per cup, 10c. 
Malted Milk, 10c. 
Afternoon Tea Salad, 35c. 
Chicken Bouillon, 15c. 

Toasted English Muffins with Maple Syrup, 15c. 
Nut Sandwiches, 20c. 
Olive Sandwiches, 20c. 
Salad Sandwiches, 20c. 
Mixed Ices and Creams, 20c. 
Cheese and Educator Crackers, 20c. 

Tiny Bon-bon dishes filled with salted almonds, candied orange 

peel, and pressed canton ginger are served free with 

each order. 






32 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

ANOTHER TEA ROOM 

Two sisters who lived in a large, old-fashioned 
house with its broad, shaded piazzas, decided to 
open a porch and parlor tea room. The house 
was situated on the State road, which was the 
main thoroughfare for automobiles. Half a mile 
from the house either way, was hung a large, at- 
tractive sign, where all who passed could see it. 
The long parlor, with its French doors, was turned 
into a dining-room. The tables and chairs were 
painted a forest green. The wall paper was pale 
green, and the woodwork white. The china was 
very dainty, and the linen perfectly plain and 
beautifully laundered. 

The old-fashioned cooking found favor with all 
the guests. A regular thirty-cent luncheon was 
served from eleven until two, afternoon tea from 
four to five, and dinner from six to ten. On the 
porch were palms and rubber plants, and Japan- 
ese lanterns made the place most attractive in 
the evenings. 

A PORCH TEA ROOM 

" If you are fortunate enough to occupy a 
house at a seashore resort or even an inland town 
where summer boarders congregate, you can earn 
a neat sum right on your own piazza. Cover the 
floor of the porch with small rugs, and have six 



HOME COOKING 33 

or eight tables scattered about with white linen 
covers. Hang Japanese lanterns, which can be 
lighted at night and on rainy afternoons when 
the Venetian awnings are drawn for warmth and 
coziness. From two until five, and from eight 
until eleven serve dainty refreshments for a 
reasonable price, home-made ices and cakes, with 
sparkling iced drinks. On the cold days serve 
clam bouillon with whipped cream and wafers, 
hot drinks, dainty sandwiches and gelatine des- 
serts. 

" You will be liberally patronized by the hotel 
and boarding-house people who get so tired of the 
same kind of ' one-egg ' cake and ' creamless ? 
ice-creams. Make your quarters very attractive 
with wild flowers and greens from the woods, 
and see that your patrons feel at home and at 
liberty to spend as much time as they can on your 
piazza, for the longer they stay the more they will 
buy. In connection with this porch-parlor scheme, 
buy a small collection of jig-saw puzzles which can 
be rented for ten cents a day over and over again. 
If you go about this in the right way, the result 
will be very remunerative," R. I. 



CHAPTER II 

HOMEMADE CANDY AND NUT GOODIES 

" The writer believes there is no line of work 
a woman can take up at home which will yield 
a larger income, considering the small amount 
of capital invested, than candy making. Home- 
made candy is pure, and if daintily boxed or tied 
there will be no difficulty in selling all one can 
make. 

" It is well to lay in an assortment of colored 
papers that can be cut into suitable sized slips 
and fringed at the ends; one can also use the 
very attractive paper napkins found in any of the 
large stores. Many of these are exceedingly 
pretty. Small packages of caramels, fudge, etc., 
can be tied up in these with pretty ribbons, or 
with the Christmas stickers, or with the self- 
sticking gilt or red tape. 

" Candy boxes in all sorts of odd shapes can 
be bought in gross lots for a cent to five cents 



HOMEMADE CANDY 35 

each, according to design. Lay in a small quan- 
tity of paraffin paper also, to wrap the chewing 
candy, caramels, etc., in, and to slip between the 
layers of candy. Buy also a gallon of glucose 
or corn syrup from some wholesale confectioner. 
This should cost about forty cents. This glucose 
is used to give the caramels, taffy, etc., a chewy 
quality, and will keep the fudge moist and fresh 
for days, or weeks. 

" I find the local dealers will help me to dis- 
pose of my candy, and I pay them twenty to 
twenty-five per cent, for selling it. Boys and 
girls in my neighborhood also like to sell the 
candy after school and on Saturdays. It is best 
to give the children five and ten cent packages 
only, allowing them a cent and a half on every 
five cent package sold, and three cents on a ten 
cent package. 

" I am confining myself to the manufacture 
of four kinds of candy: a delicious chewing candy, 
peppermints, caramels, and fudge. I make only 
one kind a day. 

CHEWING CANDY 

" The chewing candy is made as follows : 
" Add just enough boiling water to two cupfuls 
of sugar to dissolve it. Add one small table- 
spoonful of glucose and half a teaspoonful of 



36 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

cream of tartar. Let it boil until it forms a fairly 
hard ball when dropped into ice-water. 

" Pour onto a buttered platter or marble slab 
to cool; as it cools, fold the edges in toward the 
center. When cool enough to handle, pull on a 
candy hook until very white. While pulling, work 
in a few drops of flavoring, either peppermint, 
clove, wintergreen, or sassafras. Cut into small 
pieces, dust well with corn starch, and wrap in 
paraffin paper." 

CREAM PEPPERMINTS 

To two and a half cups of confectioner's sugar, 
add half a cup of boiling water and boil until it 
forms a thread. Mix six drops of oil of pepper- 
mint, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of cream of 
tartar and a teaspoonful of sugar together, and 
add to the syrup, stirring constantly. Boil all 
together for a moment, and remove from the fire. 
Drop from the end of a spoon onto oiled paper, 
giving the spoon a quick twist, to make the pep- 
permints round. 

PEPPERMINT STICKS 

Add one-half teaspoonful of cream of tartar 
to three cupfuls of fine granulated sugar. Boil 
with one cupful of water until, when tried .in cold 
water, a hard ball will form. A teaspoonful of 
glucose added to the sugar is desirable also. 



HOMEMADE CANDY 37 

When sufficiently boiled, pour onto buttered 
plates, but do not stir. When cool enough to 
handle, pull until very white. During the pulling 
the flavoring is added. A half teaspoonful of oil 
of peppermint, sassafras, clove, or wintergreen 
should be used. 

VINEGAR CANDY 

Two and one-half cupfuls of granulated sugar, 
one teaspoonful of glucose and one cupful of cider 
vinegar should be boiled together slowly until 
the syrup will rope from the spoon. Pour onto 
well buttered platters. Do not stir, but fold in 
the edges as they cool, with a knife. When cool 
enough to handle, pull until white. 



FUDGE 

To three cupfuls of granulated sugar, add two 
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, and a teaspoon- 
ful of glucose. To this add one cup of milk. Boil 
for about five minutes and then add two squares 
of unsweetened, melted chocolate. Boil until a 
soft ball will form when tried in ice-water. Re- 
move at once from the fire, add one teaspoonful 
of vanilla and beat with a fork until the mixture 
begins to granulate. Then pour quickly into 
well buttered tins and mark into squares. 



38 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

MOLASSES TAFFY 

Boil three cupfuls of the very dark molasses 
for twenty minutes; then add a half teaspoonful 
of soda, and boil ten minutes longer, stirring con- 
stantly. Add a teaspoonful of vinegar and pour 
into well buttered dishes to cool. 

BUTTER-SCOTCH 

Mix together three cupfuls of sugar, one-half 
cupful of vinegar, and one-half cupful of water. 
Allow this to boil slowly until it is crisp and hard 
when tried in cold water. Remove from the fire 
and add one quarter of a teaspoonful of soda and 
ten drops of lemon extract. 

FONDANT 

Stir one-half teaspoonful of cream of tartar 
into four cups of granulated sugar. Add a tea- 
spoonful of glucose and one cupful of boiling 
water. Boil slowly until, when tried in cold 
water, a soft ball will form. Pour onto a marble 
slab well greased and work with a wooden paddle 
or spatula until it becomes quite stiff; then knead 
with the hands until it is perfectly smooth. Put 
into a glass jar and cover with oiled paper or a 
cloth, and allow it to stand for a day or two before 
using. Fondant should be made on a sunny, clear 
day. The centers of bon-bons are little balls of 



HOMEMADE CANDY 39 

fondant. Chopped nuts or cocoanut may be 
added to these centers. 

To remelt fondant, place in a double boiler; 
when melted add any desired flavoring or color- 
ing. Plain white balls of the cold fondant, fruit 
or nuts can be dipped in the melted fondant, and 
when completely covered, remove to oiled paper 
to cool. 

UNCOOKED FONDANT 

In making the uncooked fondant, the XXXX 
confectioner's sugar should be used. Add a table- 
spoonful of cold water to the unbeaten white of 
an egg and enough confectioner's sugar to enable 
one to shape with the hands. Flavor as desired. 

CREAM WALNUTS 

Cream walnuts are made by rolling a piece of 
the uncooked fondant into a ball and pressing it 
between the halves of an English walnut. 



DATE CREAMS 
Date creams are made by removing the stones 
from well washed dates, and replacing them with 
a small piece of the uncooked fondant. Chopped 
nuts may be added to the fondant and make a de- 
licious filling for dates. 



40 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

CHEWING CANDY 
To two cupfuls of granulated sugar, add a piece 
of butter the size of an egg, two teaspoonfuls of 
vinegar, and a teaspoonful of glucose. Add half 
a cup of boiling water and boil until brittle when 
tried in water. Pour on buttered plates to cool. 
Add flavoring, and pull until white. 

CHOCOLATE CHIPS 

After the molasses taffy is well pulled, cut into 
tiny squares, and while warm, roll with a greased 
rolling-pin to very thin strips. Set aside to cool 
and then dip into melted, sweet chocolate. Place 
on oiled paper to harden. 

KISSES 
Beat the whites of six eggs very stiff, and stir 
in a large cup of very fine sugar. Drop a tea- 
spoonful at a time on to heavy white paper. Dust 
with sugar and bake in a moderate oven a half 
hour, until a nice brown. 

CARAMELS 
Vanilla caramels: two cupfuls of granulated 
sugar, one cupful of cream or milk; one half cup- 
ful of glucose and two teaspoonfuls of vanilla. 
Boil all the ingredients, excepting the vanilla, 
together, stirring constantly (or the mixture will 



HOMEMADE CANDY 41 

curdle), until a hard ball will form in cold water. 
When cooked to the right consistency, add the 
flavoring and pour into well buttered pans to 
cool. When cold, turn onto a slab and cut with 
a sharp knife into squares. 

Maple caramels: these are made just like the 
vanilla, only one cupful of maple syrup is added 
to the sugar and glucose. 

Chocolate caramels are made in the same 
manner, only two squares of melted, unsweet- 
ened chocolate are added before boiling the syrup. 

Nut caramels are the chocolate or vanilla cara- 
mels with chopped nuts added. 

POPCORN BALLS 

Put one cupful of brown sugar, one cupful of 
white sugar, one-half cupful of New Orleans 
molasses, one cupful of water, and a tablespoon- 
ful of vinegar into a well buttered pan. Cook 
without stirring until a hard ball will form when 
tried in water. Just before the syrup is cooked 
enough add a tablespoonful of butter. On re- 
moving from the fire, add a pinch of soda and pour 
at once over four quarts of freshly popped corn. 
Chill the hands in cold water and shape the balls 
quickly. Keep in a cold place. These can be 
wrapped in oiled paper and will sell for five cents 
apiece. 



42 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

CORN BALLS NO. 2 

One cupful of sugar; one cupful of New Or- 
leans molasses; butter the size of an egg; two 
tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and one-fourth of a 
teaspoonful of salt. Mix all together and boil 
slowly without stirring, until the candy will snap 
when tried in cold water. 

Pop the corn while the syrup is boiling. Corn 
two years old pops the best. Pick over the popped 
corn, throwing out all the hard kernels. Place the 
pan containing the corn on the back of the stove 
and pour on the cooked syrup gradually, stirring 
the corn until all is evenly covered with the syrup. 
Wash the hands in cold water and press the balls 
into the desired size. 

CRYSTALLIZED POPCORN 

Put one tablespoonful of fresh butter, three 
tablespoonfuls of water and one* small cupful of 
white sugar into a stew pan. When candied stir 
in three quarts of freshly popped corn. Continue 
to stir until the candy is well distributed over 
the corn. 

When cold, separate and put into small paper 
bags. Your local grocer will gladly sell these for 
you for five cents apiece, on a twenty per cent, 
commission basis. 



HOMEMADE CANDY 43 

MARSHMALLOWS 

Candy men and women made from marshmal- 
lows held in place with toothpicks, and wearing a 
coat made from a whole fig, with a fig hat, arms 
and legs of raisins, and eyes of currants, sell for 
fifteen cents to twenty-five cents each. They are 
eagerly sought after by the children and cost very 
little to make. 

GLAZED FRUIT 

Boil two cups of granulated sugar and one cup- 
ful of water until it hairs. Then add a quarter 
of a cupful of vinegar and boil hard until the 
syrup is brittle when tried in cold water. Remove 
from fire to stop the boiling and place the pan in 
another filled with very hot water. The fruit 
should be divided into sections, with the excep- 
tion of grapes and cherries. Use a long pin and 
dip the fruit quickly, cooling on oiled paper. 

GLACE NUTS 

To three cupfuls of granulated sugar, add one- 
fourth teaspoonful of cream of tartar and one 
cupful of boiling water. Boil without stirring 
until the syrup begins to discolor. Remove from 
the fire to stop the boiling, then place the dish 
containing the hot syrup in a larger dish of very 
hot water. Use a long pin in dipping the nuts, 



44 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

and place the dipped nuts on an oiled paper to 
cool. 

TO BLANCH NUTS 

The blanching of nuts is simply the removing 
of the inner brown skins, which give the nuts a 
bitter flavor when ground. To do this, remove 
the shells, and pour boiling water over the nuts, 
allowing them to soak several moments. Then 
plunge them into cold water and rub quickly be- 
tween coarse towels. 

TO SUGAR OR SALT NUTS 

To sugar or salt nuts, they are first blanched 
and then either stirred into a little melted butter, 
or into the white of an egg to which a little cold 
water has been added. Sprinkle with salt or 
sugar and place in the oven for a few moments. 

SALTED ALMONDS 

Cover one pound of the Jordan almonds with 
boiling water. Allow these to stand a few min- 
utes, then drain off and dry on towels. The skins 
should rub off easily. Dry thoroughly and put 
into a pan containing melted butter. These are 
to be fried until a delicate brown. Move them 
constantly in the pan to avoid their burning. 
Remove from the fat and salt. 



HOMEMADE CANDY 45 

Another way of salting almonds is as follows: 
Remove the skins with boiling water and dry 
well. Brown slightly in the oven. Take the white 
of an egg and add to it two spoonfuls of cold 
water. Beat well and pour over the almonds. 
Remove the nuts from the egg and salt. 



CHAPTER III 

TOILET ACCESSORIES 

Many women like to make their own sachets, 
toilet powders and creams. It is not a difficult 
task to compound these articles, and as they are 
used in practically every household, it should be 
an easy matter to persuade your friends and ac- 
quaintances to use your pure, home-made prod- 
ucts. Perfumery of all kinds can also be made 
and sold at a profit by any woman. A few recipes 
which have been successfully tried by earners of 
pin-money are given. The ingredients should 
be obtainable at any drug store or chemist's. 

A SIMPLE SACHET 

" A simple sachet which will sell well is made as 
follows: five pounds of lavender flower and ten 
pounds of violet tablets (ground) are thoroughly 
mixed. Put a tablespoonful of this mixed powder 
into a small envelope. This in turn can be 



TOILET ACCESSORIES 47 

wrapped in some daintily colored paper and tied 
with baby ribbon. These packages will sell for 
ten cents each, and should not cost over one and 
one-half cents to put up. Boys and girls will sell 
these for you, if you allow them three cents on 
each package sold." 

HELIOTROPE SACHET 

Powdered orris, 2 pounds Rose leaves, ground, ^ pound 

Tonquin beans, ground, Vanilla beans, yi pound 

yi pound Grain musk, X ounce 

Attar of almonds, 3 drops 

Mix well and sift. This is a very fine sachet. 

LAVENDER SACHET 

Lavender flowers, ground, Gum benzoin in powder, 

1 pound yi pound 

Attar of lavender, yi ounce 

ROSE SACHET 

Rose leaves, 1 pound Sandalwood, ground, y$ pound 

Attar of roses, % ounce 

VIOLET SACHET 

Black currant leaves, >^ pound Cassia flower heads, j£ pound 
Rose leaves, >£ pound Orris root powder, 2 pounds 

Attar of almonds, X drachm Grain musk, 1 drachm 

Gum benzoin (powdered), y^ pound 

Mix well and keep in a jar a week at least, be- 
fore selling. 



48 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

VIOLET FACE POWDER 

Wheat starch, 6 pounds Orris root powder, 2 pounds 

Attar of lemon, yi ounce Attar of bergamot, % ounce 

Attar of cloves, 2 drachms 

POMADE OF CUCUMBER 

Benzoated lard, 1 pound Spermaceti, >£ pound 

Spirit of Cucumber, % pound 

Mix the spermaceti with the lard, keeping it 
constantly in motion while it cools. Now beat 
the grease in a mortar, gradually adding the es- 
sence of cucumber. Beat until the spirit is evap- 
orated, and the pomade is beautifully white. 

CUCUMBER COLD CREAM 

Almond oil, 1 pound Green oil, 1 ounce 

Juice of cucumbers, 1 pound Wax and sperm, each, 1 ounce 

\ Essence of cucumber, 2 ounces 

PERFUMERY MAKING 

(By Charles H. Pirsse) 

" The following sachet powder is very fine and 
I can make this into dainty packages and sell it 
at a good profit. 

SACHET POWDER NO. 1 

Orris root, yi pound Calamus, 2 ounces 

Yellow sanders, 4 drachms Cloves, 2 drachms 

Benzoin, 4 drachms Dry bergamot, 1 ounce 

" Reduce to a fine powder and mix well. 



TOILET ACCESSORIES 49 

SACHET POWDER NO. 2 

Dried rose leaves, yi pound Cloves, 4 drachms 

Nutmegs, 4 drachms 

" Some of the finest odors, such as violet, jas- 
mine, and tuberose, are procured by the following 
method : 

" Maceration — This is the operation used 
to make pomades and is as follows: take beef 
suet, and mix with purified lard. Put this into 
a clean porcelain pan. Melt this by steam heat, 
or in a double boiler. Then take the kind of 
flowers from which the odor is to be extracted, 
and place them in the melted fat, allowing them 
to stand from twelve to forty-eight hours. The 
fat has a peculiar attraction for the attar of 
flowers, and it will draw it out of them and be- 
come highly perfumed. 

" Strain the fat from the spent flowers, and add 
fresh flowers from ten to fifteen times, according 
to the strength desired. For perfumed oils, the 
same operation is followed, only fine olive oil is 
used instead of fat, and the same results are ob- 
tained. These oils are called c Huile Antique,' 
of such and such a flower. The orange, rose, and 
cassia odors are principally prepared by this 
method. 

" The violet and reseda pomades and oils are 



50 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

prepared first by the maceration process, and 
are then finished by enfleurage or absorption. 

" Absorption or Enfleurage — This process 
is most important to the perfumer, and most diffi- 
cult to manipulate. The finest essences obtained 
are the result of this operation, as are also the fine 
pomades, known as ' French pomatums/ so much 
admired for their strength of fragrance. 

" The odors of some flowers are delicate and 
volatile, and the heat required in the previously 
named process is apt to spoil them. 

" This process is therefore conducted cold. 
Square frames should be used. These are called 
' Chassis.' These frames are about three inches 
deep, and a pane of glass is set into them like a 
window sash. These frames are about two feet 
wide and three feet long. 

" A layer of fat is spread on both sides of this 
glass, to the depth of one-fourth of an inch. The 
desired kind of flowers are sprinkled thickly over 
this fat, and allowed to stand from two to three 
days. These frames are piled one upon another, 
the top and bottom frame having the fat only on 
one side of the glass. The flowers are thus en- 
closed in a sort of box. The spent flowers 
should be changed and fresh ones added as long 
as they continue to bloom. 

" If one desires the scented oils, cotton cloths 



TOILET ACCESSORIES 51 

can be saturated with pure olive oil and spread 
upon a frame containing wire gauze instead 
of glass. The flowers are laid thickly on this 
cloth and as soon as spent, fresh flowers are added. 
The cloths are then subjected to a great pressure 
to remove the perfumed oil. 

" If you desire the essence of violet, take from 
six to eight pounds of the violet pomade, chop it 
fine and place it in one gallon of clear rectified 
spirit. Allow this to stand from three weeks to 
a month. Then strain off the essence, and to 
every pint, add three ounces of tincture of orris 
root, and three ounces of extract of cassia. 

" The following is also a simple way to make 
perfume at home. A small preserve jar can be 
filled two-thirds full of olive oil. The desired 
flowers are put into this oil and allowed to stand 
from one to two days. The oil and flowers can 
then be poured into a thin bag, and all the oil 
squeezed from the spent flowers. Return the oil 
to the jar and add more flowers. This should 
be repeated until the oil is of the desired strength. 

" Pale roses are those used for distilling, and 
for essence; jonquils, hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, 
and carnations, must be used freshly picked. 
Use only the very large red carnations. Lilac, 
heliotrope, violet, mignonette, and lilies of the 
valley furnish very choice perfumes." 



52 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

A young woman who has been studying for 
some months with a New York " beauty special- 
ist " has furnished us with the three following 
recipes which can be made by any girl who will 
be careful about the right proportions and use a 
" goodly grain of common sense." 

She writes: " I have been very careful about 
looking into all these formulas, and you may rest 
assured they are harmless, and you need not be 
afraid to try your hand at making them." 

COMPLEXION BLEACH 

" A good bleach for all minor discolorations 
and a fine lotion for oily skins at all seasons of 
the year. 

Oil of sweet almonds, 4 ounces Fresh cucumber juice, 10 ounces 
Essence of cucumber, 3 ounces White Castile soap (powdered), 
Tinct. of benzoin, 40 drops yi ounce 

" The juice of cucumbers is obtained by boil- 
ing them with a very little water. Slice them 
very thin, skin and all, and let them cook slowly 
until soft and mushy. Rub through a sieve and 
then strain through a cloth. The essence is made 
by mixing one and a half ounces of this juice and 
one and a half ounces of high proof alcohol. Put 
the essence and the soap into a large jar or bottle 
(the larger the better, as the mixture will require 



TOILET ACCESSORIES 53 

much shaking). After a few hours, when the 
soap is dissolved, add the cucumber juice, shake 
until thoroughly mixed, then pour into a stone 
jar, and add the oil and benzoin very slowly, 
stirring constantly until a creamy liquid is ob- 
tained. Put in small bottles and keep well corked 
in a dark place. 

" Always shake well before using. It is im- 
portant that the cucumber juice should be ob- 
tained with as little water as possible." 

LETTUCE CREAM 

" Splendid for healing tanned and irritated 
skins; also fine for massage cream at all times. 

Almond oil, 4 ounces Spermaceti, 1 ounce 

White wax, 1 ounce Lettuce juice, 2 ounces 

" The lettuce must be scalded with boiling 
water and allowed to stand a few minutes. Pour 
off the water and pound the lettuce to a 
paste in an earthen bowl or mortar, then strain 
through cheese cloth. Melt the first ingredients 
in a double boiler over a slow fire (do not let them 
come to a boil). Just melt them, then drop by 
drop add the lettuce juice, constantly beating 
the cream with a fork until all the juice is added 
and the cream perfectly smooth and cold." 



54 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

SHAMPOO LIQUOR 

(By Campbell Morfit) 

" This will remove dandruff and is very fine 
for shampooing." 

New England rum, 3 quarts Bay rum, 1 quart 

Water, 1 pint Glycerine, 2 ounces 

Tincture cantharides, yi ounce Carbonate ammonia, yi ounce 
Borax, 1 ounce 

FRAGRANT PASTILES FOR NECKLACES AND 
BRACELETS 

(By Campbell Morfit) 

"These rose beads sell for $4.00 to $12.00 a 
string in California, according to the length and 
variety of designs. 

" They can be made as follows: 

Rose leaves, 2 ounces Lampblack, i>£ drachms 

Isinglass, 1 ounce Gum tragacanth, % ounce 

" Dissolve the gum and isinglass in boiling 
water. Thicken the solution by evaporation, 
and add to this the rose leaves and lampblack 
previously mixed together. When the paste is 
homogeneous, knead it well and divide into small 
beads, by means of a pill machine. 

" I have used powdered orris in the making of 
these beads, as it makes them more fragrant." 



TOILET ACCESSORIES 55 

ANTI-ODORIN 

(By Campbell Morfit) 
Starch powder, i pound Salicylic acid, 150 grains 

" This mixture does excellent service when used 
to prevent an odor in stockings and shoes. I 
believe this would find ready sale in the stores. 
The stockings are to be dusted with the powder, 
and a teaspoonful sprinkled in the shoes once a 
week." 

ENGLISH COURT PLASTER 

(By Campbell Morfit) 

" Stretch upon a frame a piece of thin black 
silk, and with a camel's-hair brush pass over it 
three or more coats of isinglass, dissolved in boil- 
ing water. To give the silk an agreeable odor, 
when applying the last coat, mix in a little com- 
pound tincture of benzoin, with the isinglass. 
The color can be varied by taking silk of any 
desired shade. Allow each coat to dry thor- 
oughly between each application." 

THE SCIENCE OF MASSAGE 

Massage is of great importance in preserving 
facial beauty, and while one can practise it on 
one's self, it is never as efficacious as when done 
by another. Rest, which is really part of the 
treatment, is denied the woman who does her own 
massage. 



56 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Here is a large field for the girl who must earn 
her own livelihood, and it is not always necessary 
to open a parlor in a busy thoroughfare. If you 
live at home and in a good neighborhood, persuade 
your family to allow you the use of one room, 
even if it is an " extra room." If you have no per- 
manent home, or happen to live in an undesirable 
neighborhood, rent two rooms in a nice house, 
preferably on the street floor. A neat card with 
" Facial Massage " may be set in the window, 
but if that is objected to, have circulars and cards 
printed, stating what you are prepared to do, 
and distribute these in the neighborhood. 

The room ought to have hot and cold running 
water, and the only furniture necessary is a good 
Morris chair; this makes the best kind of an 
operating-chair. Two or three others of the plain 
but comfortable variety, a divan and a small 
table for magazines may be added. Dark mission 
or ivory painted woodwork, and a forest-green 
cartridge paper on the walls, with window cur- 
tains of cream scrim or madras form a restful 
environment, and the pictures should be few, but 
well-chosen. Parquet linoleum will make a good 
floor covering. One corner of the room must have 
brass pegs and a few coat-hangers, for the patrons' 
hats and wraps, and, beside the operating-chair, 
fix a projecting brass pole and curtain, so that 



TOILET ACCESSORIES 57 

the sitter and operator may be entirely screened 
from the view of another person entering the room. 

It is advisable to take a short course of in- 
struction from a reliable teacher or school until 
the correct movements are learned; after that, 
practice is all that is necessary. Many of these 
schools supply pupils with creams and lotions at 
reasonable cost or with formulas for compounding 
them at home; in any case have them attract- 
ively put up in bottles with glass stoppers, opaque 
jars for white creams, and glass jars for pink; 
these things are potent factors in such a business. 

A few dozen small towels of soft quality will 
be needed, and a contract may be made with 
some near-by laundry, to have them washed with- 
out the use of bleaching fluids, which are very 
injurious to the skin, unless the towels are thor- 
oughly rinsed. A better way would be to have 
them done in the house if possible. 

Cultivate a low, soft speaking voice, which 
poets have agreed is " an excellent thing in 
women." This fits in with the restful part of the 
treatment, but this does not mean a monotone, 
which is as irritating to a tired woman as the 
high-pitched, strident tones so often heard in our 
cities. A certain amount of pleasant conversation 
is necessary, but avoid the garrulity which is 
supposed to be stock-in-trade of the barber. 



58 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Many teachers, many methods; but as an 
example the Swedish movements are supposed 
to be good, and are in very general use. A good 
pure cream for massaging and at the same time 
nourishing the skin is as follows: 

Almond oil, 4 ounces Rose water, 4 ounces 

Spermaceti, 1 ounce White wax, 1 ounce 

It is best not to make too large a quantity at 
once, as all creams have a tendency to turn ran- 
cid if kept too long, and only the pure almond 
oil should be used. 

To make this, use a double-boiler and put in 
all of the oils and fats first, stirring or beating 
gently with an egg-beater until they are thor- 
oughly mingled; then add the rose-water, drop 
by drop, stirring steadily all the while. 

When a course of instruction is out of the ques- 
tion, a book on the subject, with diagrams show- 
ing the facial muscles, will be of great assistance, 
and a few personal visits to a good masseuse will 
soon familiarize the student with the method of 
procedure. 

With regard to charges, fifty cents is a perfectly 
fair charge, and it should be stated on the card 
that ladies will be visited in their homes. Busi- 
ness women realize, too, that in the struggle for 
existence, a youthful appearance counts for much, 



TOILET ACCESSORIES 59 

but as they are seldom at liberty except in the 
evenings, the masseuse should be willing to de- 
vote two or three evenings a week to their inter- 
ests. It might be a good plan to offer a reduction 
in price to those who wish to have a certain num- 
ber of treatments. 



MANICURING 

" The girl of neat appearance and deft hands, 
who has no liking for stenography or clerical 
work, can earn more than ' pin-money ' by taking 
up manicuring. 

" The outfit needed is not expensive. This 
consists of scissors, file, buffer, orange sticks, 
powder, and paste; small towels, and a dainty 
white apron complete one's outfit. These can 
be carried in a neat bag. 

" I would advise any girl who is interested in 
this work to buy some good book on the cultiva- 
tion of beauty; visit two or three of the best shops 
in town, to have your own nails manicured. 
Make careful note of every movement of the 
manicurist; then ask her if she will give you a 
few private lessons after hours. Practise on the 
hands of the members of your own family. 

" Your personal appearance will go far toward 
securing you work. Wear a neat tailored suit 



60 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

and shirt-waist. One cannot be too particular 
about personal cleanliness. 

" To succeed one must possess tact; be a good 
listener, but never discuss personal matters in 
any way. 

" One young woman wrote that she had paid 
for a summer's outing for herself and an invalid 
mother, by opening a ' manicure parlor ' on a 
shady, comfortable piazza of a private cottage, 
near a large hotel. 

" Another young girl is doing house to house 
work, and is busy from ten in the morning until 
late in the evening." 



CHAPTER IV 

A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 

" It is not an impossibility for a woman to earn 
a living by fancy needlework. On the contrary, 
I have learned by experience, that a good income 
may be had by selling one's work to women of 
sufficient means to enable them to purchase nice 
work at fair prices. 

" I have persuaded each new customer to give 
me letters of introduction to her friends, the re- 
sult being that in three months I had more orders 
for work than I could conveniently take care of 
without an assistant. 

" Since I adopted needlework as a business, 
I have made it a rule to keep my eyes open for 
everything new in the fancy work world. I am 
able to earn #20.00 a week from my needle and 
some weeks considerably more." 

Other women can utilize their ability to sew 
and do various kinds of fancy work with equal 



62 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

success, and suggestions to that end will be found 
in this chapter. 

TAILORED SHIRT-WAISTS 

" I have found a way to earn even more than 
pin-money by making plain tailored shirt-waists 
for my friends and neighbors at seventy-five cents 
each. I use pattern No. 2742 found in the Pic- 
torial Review, which is an excellent model, and 
the directions which come with it are very ex- 
plicit. Of course other patterns could be selected 
and several different styles made from them. I 
buy size 38, and then cut a little larger or smaller 
according to my customer. I think any girl could 
make these simple waists and there is always a 
demand for them. If you do not know many 
people it is a good plan to insert an advertisement 
in your local paper which might read something 
like this : ' Plain tailored shirt-waists made at sev- 
enty-five cents each.' 

" I am so busy this year that I hope to take on 
a partner very soon." E. B. 

" I cannot sew well enough to make smart 
gowns, so I make plain shirt-waists, for fifty cents 
each; also plain house or work dresses and aprons. 
I buy my materials at wholesale, cutting out 
several garments at a time. 

" I can make these rapidly on my machine, 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 63 

and sell them to the mill girls in my neighbor- 
hood." 

ROMPERS FOR CHILDREN 

A young woman living in a small city writes: 
" I could not do general sewing for grown-ups, 
as I have neither the training nor the inclination. 
But I am supporting myself by making garments 
for children between the ages of two and twelve 
years. It is easy to make the serviceable little 
play suits and rompers out of galatea or linen. I 
am earning two dollars a day the year round. 
Children's dressmaking, to me, is the most in- 
teresting work." 

A SUCCESSFUL DOLLS' DRESSMAKER 

All through the ages we find that women have 
been mothers first, and women afterwards, and 
it is difficult to say at what age the maternal in- 
stinct first develops, whether the very small girl is 
imbued with that spirit, or is merely imitative. 

In any case, the doll is an important factor in 
the list of Christmas toys, and just as we demand 
absolute realism in other things, the doll is no 
longer a simpering, waxen image, but a perfect 
representation of the age or nation it portrays. 

Dolls have an educational value, too; the pos- 
session of one or more dolls, dressed in the cos- 



64 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

tumes of other nations, unconsciously raises a 
train of thought in the child's mind regarding 
the children of these lands, and the history and 
geography follow as a natural sequence. 

First in the affections of the American child 
comes the doll made in her own image, with blue 
eyes and blond curls, or dark hair and eyes; eyes 
that open and shut, and whose silky locks may be 
combed and tortured in divers ways, with clothes 
to take off and put on again, to be washed and 
ironed, all in a grown-up way. 

The newest way to dress a doll of this sort, is 
with hobble skirt, and picture hat or turban, for 
the small girl's aspirations nearly always find 
their first expression in her doll's clothes. The 
fashionable shaping of these garments need pre- 
sent no difficulty, for every pattern house can 
supply the diminutive tissue examples, cut and 
graded with as much care as the big patterns. 
The undergarments may be purchased at the 
stores or made by hand. 

The boy doll wears knickerbockers, a smart 
reefer coat and a sailor cap. 

A pretty " country girl " doll wears a dress of 
pink and white checked gingham, a dainty little 
apron of white lawn, and a sunbonnet made of 
the same material. 

The " nature " dolls, as they are called, whose 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 65 

bald heads and toothless smile proclaim their 
extreme youth, need the close-fitting cap, the 
short dress and coat of a small baby, while long 
robes are suitable for some of them. 

For an Irish doll, select a brunette type, with 
blue eyes, if obtainable, and dress her in a frock 
of green nun's-veiling, with a little apron of white 
lawn, and a snowy kerchief of the same material 
folded on her shoulders. A hood of red silk will 
add a gay touch to the outfit. 

Gretchen from Holland wears a full-skirted 
dress of royal blue, with bands of black velvet, 
an apron of yellow silk and a kerchief and cap of 
stiff starched muslin, and she must positively 
have flaxen hair and blue eyes. Her little play- 
mate Hans, can be made from a similar doll, but 
he should have his hair cut in " Buster " fashion 
to make him realistic. He is attired in baggy 
trousers of drab-colored cloth, and wears a short, 
tight-fitting jacket of blue, with a round cap of 
black cloth. 

The Scotch doll is a gay figure, who wears a 
closely plaited, short skirt of plaid, a white blouse 
and black velvet jacket with silver buttons, and 
a red woolen Tam-o'-Shanter cap, turned up on 
one side with a quill feather. A scarf of the plaid 
material fastens on the left shoulder, and buckled 
shoes complete her costume. Her masculine 



66 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

prototype has short hair, his kilt is a little shorter 
than the lady's skirt, and his jacket is closed with- 
out a blouse. 

The " Toreador " doll is especially attractive. 
His costume consists of tight, black velvet knee 
breeches and Eton jacket, which, however, is 
trimmed with gold galloon, with a strip of the 
same down the outer side of the trousers. A shirt 
of white lawn is worn, and around his waist is 
tied a sash of scarlet silk. His " Toreador " hat 
of velvet is trimmed with a gold cord and small 
black chenille pompon; white ruffles adorn his 
wrists, and he wears white stockings and black 
patent leather shoes. 

The " Red Cross " doll wears a dress of navy 
blue mohair, white apron and cap, and a white 
band on her arm, embroidered with a red cross. 
For outdoor wear she has a blue bonnet, and gauze 
veil, and a loose cloak made of the dress material. 

The " Puritan " doll wears a dress of soft, 
dove-gray nun's-veiling, with folded fichu and 
cap of fine white lawn. 

In dressing dolls one must avoid giving offense 
to sects, professions, or people in distress. 

MENDING AND REMODELING OF GARMENTS 
A college girl suddenly brought face to face 
with the problem of paying her own way through 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 67 

her senior year, or giving up her college work, 
began to take stock of her accomplishments. 

The one thing she felt she could do well was 
to mend, and she knew there was a demand for 
that kind of work. 

The result was, a neatly printed card was tacked 
to her door bearing these words: "Mending of 
all kinds done here. Garments pressed and re- 
paired." 

Within a few days the work began to pour in. 
Before the year was over this girl found it neces- 
sary to hire two able assistants who were kept 
so busy that when she left college she found 
herself at the head of a flourishing little busi- 
ness. 



EMBROIDERIES FOR THE BABY 

" All of my pin-money has been earned by sell- 
ing dainty embroidered articles for the baby. 
These include sheets of embroidered linen for the 
bassinet; pillow slips; towels of bird's-eye linen; 
double bibs of fine dotted pique; lawn caps; fine 
nainsook slips; sponge bags of colored linen; flan- 
nel skirts and pinning blankets, also pique car- 
riage robes. 

"Each and every article is daintily embroidered 
and sells for a good price." 



68 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

RAG DOLLS AND BROWNIES 

" Rag dolls and tumbling Brownies have 
brought me in the pennies. To make a Brownie, 
I take a man's cuff, and sew the ends together, 
making a cylinder large enough to hold a large 
glass marble. A face is drawn with pen and ink 
on the upper half of the cuff. The lower half is 
covered with brown velvet. Long thin legs and 
arms are cut from cloth and sewed to this velvet. 
A brown cap covers the top of the cuff. When 
the Brownie is stood on a slanting surface, he will 
turn many somersaults until he reaches the floor. 
These funny little tumbling men sell for fifty 
cents to one dollar each, and they cost only about 
twenty cents to make." 

CHILDREN'S SUN HATS 

" Children's collar and cuff sets of linen, and 
the little sun hats find ready sale in my town. 
The sun hats are made of pique or linen. The 
scalloped edges of the brim are buttonholed, with 
white or colored thread. The dots on the brim 
are worked with two shades of colored thread. 
The collar and cuff sets are made in the same 
manner." 

RIBBON NOVELTIES 
" Through our Exchange, I have sold many 
ribbon novelties. I have made bunches of roses 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 69 

from scraps of silk. In the heart of each rose is a 
tiny bag filled with cotton and rose powder. The 
wire stems are covered with green silk. From 
loops of blue baby ribbon dainty forget-me-nots 
are made, the leaves being of dark green ribbon." 

BABY'S TOWELS 

" My pin-money is earned by embroidering 
initials, monograms or the word ' Baby ' on towels. 
The plain huckaback towels y with the scalloped 
ends, which cost twenty-five cents each, sell for 
seventy-five cents to one dollar embroidered." 

LINGERIE FOR THE BRIDE 

" My only accomplishment was an ability to 
sew and stitch well, and my strong point was 
making dainty lingerie. Therefore, when I felt 
the need of earning some pin-money, I subscribed 
to all the local papers, watched the society notes 
and all personal mentions. I made a note of each 
engagement announced, called on the bride-to-be, 
and solicited the making of at least some, if not 
all, of her underwear. 

u I bought all my materials by the piece, and 
took with me a dainty book filled with my samples. 
I made this sample book at home and pasted all 
materials in it, — nainsook, longcloth, crossbar, 
dimity, etc., — laces, both German and French 



70 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Val, beading, and even various kinds of wash 
ribbons. It made a very attractive showing. 

" I also cut illustrations for patterns with 
their number from Pictorial Review books, and 
pasted these in another home-made booklet — 
this one of light-blue cambric with pinked edges. 
I soon secured one or two orders, and these girls 
would recommend me to their friends, and now 
I have built up a good trade, which brings me in a 
tidy income. Of course, I am now broadening 
out, and make albatross nightgowns for elderly 
people and Canton flannel nighties for the kiddies. 
The possibilities of the work are large, as the field 
is not yet overcrowded as are so many professions 
open to women." Mrs. R. 

INFANTS' LAYETTES 
The making of infants' layettes is interesting 
work and a nice little sum may be realized in this 
manner. These sets of infants' garments vary in 
price greatly according to the demands of my cus- 
tomers. Some sets sell for #2.50, others for 
$100.00. 

SLEEPING-ROBES 

" Sleeping-robes for infants are easily made 
and find ready sale. These are cut from all-wool 
blankets, in one piece. The edges are bound with 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 71 

silk tape, and are fastened with snap hooks or 
buttons. These robes are so fashioned, that when 
adjusted, baby is in a snug, warm, double-breasted 
garment, with sleeves buttoned down the side, 
and at the bottom, so that the hands are warm. 
These sleeping-robes sell for $3.00 to #6.00 each." 

NURSES' OUTFITS 

" My home is near the trained nurses' board- 
ing-house, and I have made a specialty of nurses' 
outfits, — dresses, caps, aprons, and capes. I 
have two assistants and am busy from early until 
late. The dresses cost $1.50, $3.50, #4.50 and 
$5.00 each. They are all made on the same gen- 
eral plan, and are quickly done. The capes vary 
in price from $12.00 to $40.00 each, according to 
the material." 

SHAKER CAPES 

" In the town of Pittsfield, Mass., is a Shaker 
settlement. It was my great privilege to be 
associated with two of the dear Sisters for a time. 
One of them was nearly eighty, while the younger 
was over seventy years of age. These two old 
ladies earn a very large income by making the 
Shaker capes,' which sell for $15.00, $25.00, 
and $35.00 each. 

"-They are made of all colors of broadcloth, 
with the shoulder cape and silk-lined hood. 



72 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Some of these capes are lined throughout with 
silk and are much sought after as opera capes. 
These two old ladies have also made beautiful 
work-baskets, doll's capes, pin-cushions, dusters, 
spool-racks, etc., and once a year they hold a 
sale in the Hotel Martha Washington, which is a 
hotel for women only, in New York City. 

" A goodly sum is cleared by these remarkable 
women, who have long passed their ' three score 
years and ten.' " 

PRACTICAL CRETONNE BAGS 

" In our city there is a great demand for any 
cretonne novelty, and I have made good money 
in making nothing but cretonne bags — princi- 
pally sewing-bags. One yard of twenty-five cent 
material will make two bags; two pairs of oval 
hoops for handles cost twenty cents, and six yards 
of ribbon at five cents a yard will cover my hoops 
and allow sufficient for rosettes. The two bags 
actually cost me seventy-five cents, and I sell them 
at sixty cents each. During the month of Novem- 
ber I sold twenty-four of these practical sewing- 
bags. I watch all the sales in the upholstery 
departments of our stores, and often pick up rem- 
nants at much less than twenty-five cents a yard, 
and now I am buying my ribbon by the piece and 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 73 

get a wholesale rate of four cents a yard, thus 
increasing my profit. 

" My pattern is a very simple one — I cut the 
yard of material in half, sew up on three sides, 
turn in the corners and round them on the ma- 
chine. The tops I gather on the oval hoops, and 
cover the other half of the hoop with matching 
ribbons. In a few moments the work is done. I 
do my stitching in the day-time, sewing up four 
or five at a time, and at night in the parlor, while 
sitting with the family, I finish them off. I now 
have a nice fat roll of bills, all my own, and feel 
that I am only just starting in with a fine idea, as 
I expect to make all kinds of bags and other cre- 
tonne novelties." R. B. 

FETCHING SUNBONNETS 

" At some time in life it seems everybody wears 
a sunbonnet, and lately they have become very 
fashionable at the beaches. All the smart girls 
wear them at the bathing hour while they are loll- 
ing on the sand, and children love them dearly. 
A clever little lady in a small country town hit 
upon the idea of making bonnets for the local 
stores, for which she received fifty cents each. 
Soon she had orders from neighboring towns 
and then from even distant ones. Her trade has 



74 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

grown so that she now keeps several assistants, 
and buys all her material at wholesale. The pos- 
sibilities of this work are very large, as many are 
the varieties in which sunbonnets can be turned 
out. All the magazines have fetching patterns, 
and with a little ingenuity a girl can turn out 
many novel ideas from one pattern." 

Miss J. K 

CROCHETED ARTICLES 

" Crocheted belts, washcloths, bibs, men's 
neckties, white crocheted bow ties, and crib cov- 
ers, in baby blue and white mercerized cotton, 
have furnished me with all my spending money. 

" A violet belt, made of mercerized cotton No. 3, 
done in single crochet stitch, is pretty and inex- 
pensive. 

" Horse lines of mercerized cotton will sell for 
fifty cents to one dollar each; bedroom slippers, 
in the gray and white mercerized cotton, will sell 
for $1.50 a pair. Always use the No. 3 cotton, as 
it gives the best results." 

LINEN BOOK COVERS 

" Decorated linen and crash covers, for books 
and magazines, have furnished me with my pin- 
money. Oyster white crash, with a decoration in 
cross stitch in three shades of blue or pink, makes 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 75 

a very effective cover. A grayish white crash 
cover, with a stenciled border in old blue, is very 
beautiful. These covers sell for $1.50 to #3.00 
each." 

LAUNDRY BAGS 

" I have found that laundry bags, sofa pillows 
and chafing dish centerpieces of white linen, 
with blue or white linen applique and embroidery, 
sell well. I have earned over $50.00 by this par- 
ticular line of needlework." 

PATCHWORK QUILTS 

Patchwork quilts will sell readily for $5.00 to 
$10.00 apiece. These quilts can be sold through 
the Exchanges for woman's work, on a ten per 
cent, basis, or by placing a sample quilt in your 
local store. 

TURN-OVER COLLARS 

" I was shopping in a dry-goods store one day 
when my attention was directed by the clerk to a 
bargain sale of remnants of fine embroideries 
and laces. Some of the embroideries were so fine 
and dainty that I saw at once that they would 
make beautiful collars. I bought some lengths 
for ninety-five cents and a yard of fine lawn for 
the bands; that amount made up into fifteen col- 
lars. I had intended them for my own use only, 



76 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

but a lady who saw one that I was wearing ad- 
mired it so much that she asked me to make her 
some. Other friends also wanted them, and in a 
short time I found a profitable way of making 
pin-money. 

" These collars sell well at twenty-five and 
fifty cents each and are far finer than any found at 
the stores at that price. It takes such a little time 
to make one that any woman with a machine and 
neat fingers can derive quite a little income from 
the work. Turn-over collars, of course, include the 
now popular ' Dutch ' collar, and I make them 
in all sizes and materials, suitable for children 
and young girls. I sometimes sell a dozen in a 
week." K. B. N. 

BUTTONHOLES AT HOME 
" It came about in this way. In our block a 
fashionable dressmaker lived, and one day while 
I was sewing she came in, and noticed the even- 
ness of some buttonholes I was working. She 
told me how hard it was to get a girl to do this 
work, and in the end we made an agreement that 
I was to have all the buttonholes to do that she 
had to give out. I was to get two cents for small 
ones, three for larger ones, and so on. The but- 
tonholes came to me cut, and thread was furnished. 
In my spare moments I picked up this work, 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 77 

during afternoons and evenings, and often took it 
with me when I went to see the neighbors. During 
her busy season, I had more than I could do, and 
averaged about three dollars a week. Girls in 
business who made their own shirt-waists brought 
them to me to work the buttonholes, and mothers 
who made baby and children's clothes themselves, 
brought them to me for the same purpose. It is 
a very good idea, well worth considering. Par- 
ticularly should it appeal to women who have 
only time for ' pick-up ' work." 

A Davenport Woman. 

HEMSTITCHING 

From $3.00 to $7.00 a week is the amount earned 
by hemstitching by hand. One lady writes us 
that she has made an arrangement with the owner 
of a large linen store, whereby he encloses her 
business card in each bundle sent out. 

She can do hemstitching well, and the orders 
for this work come to her through this linen store, 
she paying a percentage on all orders received. 
This is an excellent way to advertise one's work, 
as there is no expense incurred, aside from the 
printing of the business cards. 

MEN'S NECKTIES 
" I recently thought of making neckties in 
my leisure hours. The first thing I did was to 



78 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

look over the ties belonging to my husband for a 
pattern. I picked out an old one and ripped it 
up. Judging from the large quantity in the 
drawer, and by the number of ties bought by my 
husband every year, I could readily see that there 
could be a little pin-money made in this way. I 
bought one yard of silk, which cost me seventy- 
five cents, and I found from this I could make 
two four-in-hand ties and one bow tie. As for the 
padding, outing flannel is used, and enough of this 
material can be purchased for ten cents to make 
eight ties. I find that neckties are very easily 
made and that I can make six in one day besides 
doing my regular house-work. These ties sell at 
our retail store at fifty cents each, but by making 
a comparison I find that my silk is of a much 
better quality. Since my friends and relatives 
have seen the style and quality of my work I 
have been kept busy, as each one sold seems to be 
an advertisement for me. I average about two 
dollars a week at this work." 

HUCKABACK TIES 
" Seventy-five dollars have been earned by 
making vests, neckties, and belts from huckaback. 
Belts and ties made of linen huck, darned in floss 
of delicate colors, make acceptable gifts. Mercer- 
ized floss may be purchased in all colors, and two 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 79 

or three shades of one color are often used on one 
article in effective combination." 

AMATEUR MILLINERY 

" I had been trimming hats at home for a few 
friends, who were very much pleased with my work 
and this gave me courage to go in on a larger scale. 
I trimmed up several new hats which I exhibited 
to my friends as they came in, and in that way 
always sold the new ones. This advertised my 
work greatly and I was always kept in plenty of 
pin-money. 

" I went about it in this way: First of all my 
prices were always below the regular charge — 
say if one paid fifty cents for trimming, my price 
would be thirty-five cents. My prices being less 
than others, always brought me more customers, 
plenty of work, and pin-money." 

O. F. 

RAG DOLLS 

" A friend of mine has built up a good business 
in making rag dolls, which sell for a good 
price. When visiting the State Fair she noticed 
that only one small rag doll was entered in the 
exhibits. The following year a prize was offered 
for the best rag doll, so she decided to make some. 
She sent in two, and received the second premium. 



80 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Inspired by this piece of good luck, she went home 
and made up twenty-five rag dolls and a set of 
clothes for each one. Six of these she gave 
away as Christmas presents and sold the remainder 
for #27. After the holidays she made up several 
more and sent them to friends in various parts 
of the country, asking if they could secure orders 
for rag dolls. In this way her little business has 
grown so that now she is never able to catch up 
with her orders, and is especially rushed during 
the holiday season. The cost is very small, for 
all of her friends save rags and give her for the 
stuffing, and they also donate left-overs to make 
up many of the little garments. 

" In connection with the rag doll, she has bought 
up a number of the cloth animals of the Pictorial 
Review, stuffed them and sold them at a great 
profit. Many busy mothers gladly pay her the 
difference for the finished animal to delight the 
youngsters." R. G. 

PIN -BALLS 

" I saw your request for tested ways in which 
women had earned money and thought I would 
send you my way. My mother, grandmother and 
I made up ever so many pin-balls. We took scraps 
of silk or velvet and cut circles from these the 
size of a half-pound baking-powder box cover. 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 81 

We covered circles of thin cardboard with these, 
putting two pieces together and sewing the edges 
over and over. The completed circles we filled 
with pins and fastened on a piece of baby ribbon 
to hang them up by. These sold readily for ten 
and fifteen cents apiece, depending on the kinds 
of pins used, some being filled with plain pins 
and others with fancy colors. We spoke of our 
work in Everett, Mass., and people there adopted 
this plan for a c Pin-ball Day ' instead of the 
older ' Tag Day ' in order to obtain money for 
an old folks' home." 

PIN CUSHIONS 

" Every one needs a pin cushion of some kind, 
and I have found the making of them to be very 
profitable work. There is no end to the variety 
of styles. I have had the best success with those 
which I fill with lamb's wool, which can be bought 
at any mattress store at small cost. It takes very 
little material to cover a pin cushion, and in my 
journey through the stores I buy up all the small 
remnants of bright novelty silk and wool that I 
come across. The ones I make to simulate to- 
matoes and pumpkins are good sellers. They are 
all very easy to make. Cut the material the shape 
you wish to make, whether oblong, round, or 
heart-shaped, and stuff pretty tight with lamb's 



82 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

wool. A cluster of four or five little red silk hearts 
dangling from narrow red silk ribbon at different 
lengths is a great favorite for a Christmas or Saint 
Valentine's Day gift. Some people prefer the 
flowered silk and others the plain. 

" The cushions can be disposed of at private 
sales, to dry goods merchants, fancy-work stores, 
women's exchanges, and to private individuals. 
A bright, deft-fingered, energetic girl will find 
a ready sale for them all the year round." L. G. 

Seventy-five dollars a year can be easily earned 
by making little pin cushions for the sewing bas- 
ket and traveler's bags. One style of cushion 
which sells readily is made in the shape of an 
inch and a half cube. Secure as many odds and 
ends of bright silk as possible, and piece together 
four squares for the top, and four for each side, 
using a single square for the bottom. Line each 
side with stiff paper. Fill the cushion with even 
squares of felt or soft material of any kind. This 
dainty cushion sells for $1.25 in Boston. They 
were made by an invalid, and the demand always 
exceeded the supply. The materials cost nothing. 
Any one will gladly supply odds and ends of silk 
from their scrap bag. Samples of silks sent out 
by the dry goods stores can all be used nicely 
in this manner. 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 83 

PIN-MONEY PILLOWS 

Miss , in Maine, writes: " I am earning my 

pin-money by making pillows, some of which I 
sell to large concerns, and the balance to sum- 
mer tourists. The covers are made during the 
winter and are filled with pine needles, balsam silk, 
milk-weed, chicken, or live geese feathers. 

" These sell for prices ranging from fifty cents 
to three dollars each." 

ROSE PILLOWS 

" Why not gather rose leaves and make your 
' pin-money ? ' Nearly every State in the Union 
has the wild rose growing in abundance. The 
leaves, when properly cured, make beautiful sofa 
pillows, retaining their color and fragrance for 
years. Any girl who can sew and has patience 
can gather and cure the leaves and make the 
pillows. These dainty and artistic pillows will 
sell readily. 

" Take a spare room where there will be plenty 
of air and sun. (Do not dry in sun, as it fades 
the leaves.) Spread the leaves thinly on papers, 
and sprinkle with table salt. (The salt will at first 
make the leaves damp.) This helps to toughen 
them and also aids in retaining the color. Some 
also use a little spice, but this is not necessary 
and tends to darken the leaves. Stir once or twice 



84 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

a day, so the bottom leaves will not mold. When 
thoroughly dry, pack the leaves in a clean sack, 
until you are ready to make the pillows, leaving 
the salt on the papers. There are endless varie- 
ties of sheer and dainty material which will make 
up beautifully, from the inexpensive lawns or 
India linon to the fine batistes or dimities. Of 
course, one will have to judge for herself what 
price her trade will pay. The pillows may be 
finished with a ruffle of the material, edged with 
narrow lace; or a ruffle of two, or three rows of 
beading, strung with delicate pink ribbon, edged 
with lace." H. A. H. 

REPAIRING ORIENTAL RUGS 

Almost any woman can repair " Oriental 
rugs." Through the carelessness of servants, a 
good many rugs have holes beaten in the body; 
this is due to the fact that every knot is tied in- 
dividually, and when one knot is loosened and the 
thread drops out, the next knot moves along and 
in time loosens also, and drops out. After this 
has been repeated a few times, a hole is started 
and if it is not taken at once and repaired it be- 
comes a serious matter. First take a board four 
feet long, by a foot wide, and fasten it firmly to 
a box, to act as a bench. Take the rug with the 
nap running toward you starting from the top, 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 85 

pull down, and firmly tack at the bottom. Repeat 
this at the sides. 

Then splice in the warp and copy the knot, 
of which there are two kinds, the Yhordes and 
Senna. Any woman can copy these knots and 
it only takes very little practice to become an 
expert. You can secure yarns from any Arme- 
nian rug dealer in the Oriental colors, but if these 
are not available, you can use Diamond Dyes 
and get any color you may wish. Use very coarse 
yarns. The design is so simple and crude in most 
rugs, that they are easily copied. As each knot 
is tied, push it tightly against the next knot, and 
when all is finished, shear closely. The prices 
charged for repairing rugs are from $2.00 per 
inch up. 

FORGET-ME-NOT CHAINS 

Two dollars a week up, making forget-me-not 
and daisy chains. These cost about ten cents 
and are easily made. They sell for twenty- 
five cents to one dollar. Below are given the 
rules for two pretty chains. These are for be- 
ginners. Use a milliner's needle, and linen thread 
No. 70, or luster twist 000; the clasps will cost 
from two cents to five cents each. 

Forget-me-not chain: String five blue beads 
and one yellow, then pass the needle down through 
the first blue bead. Put on three blue beads, then 



86 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

pass the needle through all the beads of the for- 
get-me-not. Take up two blue beads, to start a 
new flower, pass the needle up through the last 
two beads of the first forget-me-not, and then 
down again through the two beads of the new 
flower. Take up three blue and one yellow, and 
put the needle down through the first bead of 
the new forget-me-not. Take up three blue, and 
pass the needle through all the beads of the flower, 
and then once more through the upper side bead. 
Take up two blue beads to start a new forget- 
me-not, and continue as for the second flower. 

DAISY CHAINS 

Put on four white beads and one yellow, then 
pass the needle down through the first white 
bead, put on four white beads and pass the needle 
up through all the beads of the daisy. Put on 
two green, then one white, and pass the needle 
back through the green, next to the white bead. 
Put on one green bead and pass the needle down 
through the nearest white bead of the daisy. 
Take up one green, and pass the needle up through 
the last green. Put on one white and pass the 
needle up through the white of the new daisy. 
Take up two white and one yellow and pass the 
needle down through the first white bead of the 
new flower. Put on one green and pass the needle 



A LIVING FROM NEEDLEWORK 87 

down through the lowest green bead. Take up 
one green and pass the needle up through the 
green bead above. Put on one white, pass the 
needle up through the yellow. Put on three white 
and pass the needle down through all the beads 
of the daisy. 

Take up one green, and pass the needle through 
the last green bead in the first row. Take up one 
white and pass the needle through the last green 
bead in the second row. Take up one green and 
pass the needle through the upper bead on the 
side of the old daisy. Put on one green, and pass 
the needle down through the green below. 

Put on a white and pass the needle down 
through the white below. Put on two white and 
one yellow. Pass the needle up through the first 
white of the new daisy and continue as for the 

second flower. 

RAFFIA WORK 

" My raffia hats, bags, and mats sell well in our 
local Exchange. Wire coat-hangers covered with 
raffia, and trimmed with small sachet bags, sell 
for $1.25 each. These cost from forty cents to 
sixty cents to make, according to the amount of 
ribbon used." 

KNITTED GLOVES 

" Knitted gloves for women, made of Saxony 
yarn, motor gloves for men, long knitted mittens 



88 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

of silk and wool, and silk gloves and mittens for 
women, are the source of my income. These are 
made in odd moments and bring good prices at 
the exchange." 



CHAPTER V 

RAISING FLOWERS, FRUITS, AND VEGETABLES 

Bolton Hall, in his book entitled A Little 
Land and a Living, has given interesting and valu- 
able facts as to just what one can accomplish 
with an acre of ground, when systematically 
farmed. Mr. Hall says: " One man's work sup- 
plied over one hundred and fifty persons at the 
Stony Wold Consumptive Sanitarium, at Lake 
Kushaqua in the Adirondacks, with all the gar- 
den truck they could use from May to Novem- 
ber, and fed a lot to the chickens and cattle, off 
one and three-quarters acres. Besides that, they 
got forty-five bushels of potatoes, and a large 
quantity of root crops, to lay away for the win- 
ter." 

Mr. E. A. Sutherland, of the Nashville Agri- 
cultural and Normal Institute of Madison, Ten- 
nessee, writes: "I leased an eighth of an acre 
in Battle Creek, Michigan, and put it into ordi- 
nary garden vegetables. This little plot of land 



90 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

produced me green vegetables that would have 
cost me #80.00 (or #640.00 an acre) in the market. 
I kept a strict account, because I was desirous 
of knowing just what could be done. I was 
president of the Battle Creek College at the 
time, and was carrying heavy work, so could put 
but little time each day into the garden." 

In the Horticulturist's Rule Book, Professor L. 
H. Bailey gives the following table of average 
yields per acre in vegetables and fruits: 

Beans (green or string), 200 to 300 bushels 

Beans (lima), 75 to 100 bushels 

Beets, 400 to 700 bushels 

Carrots, 300 to 700 bushels 

Cranberries, 100 to 300 bushels 

Cucumbers, 150,000 fruits 

Currants, 100 bushels 

Kohl-rabi, 500 to 1000 bushels 

Onions (from seed), 300 to 800 bushels 

Parsnips, 500 to 800 bushels 

Peas (in pod), 100 to 150 bushels 

Potatoes, 100 to 300 bushels 

Salsify, 200 to 300 bushels 

Spinach, 200 barrels 

Tomatoes, 8 to 16 tons 

Turnips, 600 to 1000 bushels 

Apples (trees from 25 to 30 years old), alternate years, 25 to 30 bushels 

Peaches (in full bearing), 5 to 40 bushels 

Plums, 5 to 8 bushels 

Pears (20 to 25 years old), 25 to 45 bushels 

Blackberries, 1600 to 3200 quarts 

Raspberries, 1600 to 3200 quarts 

Strawberries, 2400 to 9600 quarts 



RAISING FLOWERS 91 

The actual averages per acre, shown in Census 
Bulletin No. 237, are as follows: 



Beets, 300 to 400 bushels 

Cabbages, 8000 heads 

Carrots, 200 to 300 bushels 

Horseradish, 2 to 5 tons (it sells for ten to fifty dollars a ton) 

Onions, 300 to 400 bushels (but this can be doubled) 

Potatoes, 75 to 300 bushels 

Rhubarb, 36,000 bunches 

Salsify, 200 to 300 bushels # 



The French Globe artichoke brings high prices 
in the American market. From 600 to 1000 
bushels of the Jerusalem artichokes may be 
grown on an acre of land. Asparagus is a most 
profitable crop, and should produce from 1800 
to 2000 bunches a year, after the fifth year. 

In Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Holland families 
work in the fields, — men, women, and children. 
Celery culture is one of the main industries here. 
One man can take care of from two to three 
acres, from which he sells from 40,000 to 60,000 
plants. 

In Florida, celery growing is carried on exten- 
sively, an acre being known to produce $1500.00 
worth of celery in a season. 

In order to succeed as a farmer, specialize on 
some one thing. Plant your acre in one vege- 



92 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

table only, then cultivate the land intensively. 
If you own no land, rent from two to five acres, 
near a city, and near markets. Be sure to buy a 
wheel hoe, a walking plow, a disk or cutaway 
harrow, a cultivator. A combination set of these 
necessary tools may be purchased from any large 
seed house, where the small farm implements are 
carried. 

A wheelbarrow, rake, hoe, grubbing hoe, spade, 
fork, bulb-sprayer, watering-can, and trowel are 
also needed. A dibble may be made from a sharp- 
ened broomstick. 

That book of Mr. Hall's, entitled A Little Land 
and a Living, is indispensable. 

If the men and women who are living the hand- 
to-mouth existence in a large city would club to- 
gether, and every week lay aside a few cents, 
at the end of a year a party of ten to twenty could 
rent a farm and together produce results which 
could never be realized by an individual. This 
co-operative farming in Europe and America is 
always productive of great results. Valuable 
tracts of land may be purchased or rented near 
all the large cities, and communities established. 
Co-operation is the great secret of success, the 
world over. 

Ways of making the small vegetable garden a 
financial success, are briefly outlined. 



RAISING FLOWERS 93 

GLOBE ARTICHOKE 

Vigorous in growth, and not subject to diseases. 
Plant in rows three feet apart, and two feet apart 
in the row. Soil should be deep, rich and moist. 
In the fall the plants should be cut down and 
mulched over winter. In the spring, uncover, and 
pour liquid manure about each plant. After the 
shoots start, cut away all but three or four, thus 
avoid crowding of the shoots. Those cut away 
will make new plants, if a piece of the root has 
been taken with each shoot. The plants should 
not be kept after the fourth year. 

ASPARAGUS 

An asparagus bed will last for many years, but 
a bed requires intelligent care for the first year 
or two. The plants should be set about two by 
three feet apart, as the roots will fill the entire 
space in a few years. The plants should not be 
cut until three years old. As a rule, two shoots 
are cut from a mature plant daily. The soil 
should be light and sandy, with plenty of well- 
rotted manure worked into it. Do not allow the 
soil to become baked, and weed the bed thor- 
oughly. Do not cut the stalks entirely away 
before the fourth year. From that time on, no 
stalk should be allowed to grow until the first of 
July, when cutting should cease. 



94 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

BEANS 

Beans should not be planted in freshly manured 
ground. The soil should be deep and moist, but 
not too rich in nitrogen. Cultivate regularly, 
and water during a drought. Pinch off the ends 
of the plants, if they are running to foliage rather 
than flowers. From $250 to $300 may be realized 
from an acre of beans, very easily. 

BEETS 

Beets require a rich, light soil. Plant the seeds 
in drills a foot apart, at a depth of an inch to 
two inches. Beets should be thinned at least 
twice, the young plants being used as greens. 

BRUSSELS SPROUTS 

Brussels sprouts are very hardy. They mature 
in September or October, and the frost improves 
rather than injures them. The soil for sprouts 
should be rich and loamy. Plant two by three 
feet apart. Do not allow the earth about the 
plants to bake. Cultivate well, and conserve 
the moisture. Use liquid manure freely. 

CABBAGES 

This vegetable is very hardy and does not suffer 
from slight frost. The soil must be deep, very 
rich, and well drained. Transplant from boxes 
about the middle of April. 



RAISING FLOWERS 95 

Plant two feet or more apart each way. Plant 
the early variety from the middle of June to the 
last of July, as these should be fully grown by 
October. When the worms appear, spray with 
one part Paris green to five gallons of water. 

CARROTS 

Carrots should be grown in a rich, light soil, 
not freshly manured. Do not allow the soil to 
become baked over the seeds. 

CAULIFLOWERS 

Cauliflowers belong to the cabbage family, and 
require exceedingly rich, moist, well-drained soil. 
There should be a regular supply of moisture. 
After the heads are formed, tie the leaves together 
to protect them from sun and rain. Watch care- 
fully for the cabbage worm, which is sure to ruin 
the heads unless promptly removed from the 
plant. 

Buy the very best seed possible. Bait the cauli- 
flowers against cutworms, by spraying clover 
with Paris green and placing little piles in the soil 
about the plant. 

Plant eighteen inches apart in rows, two feet 
apart. Cauliflower should be started under glass 
early in March and transplanted in five or six 
weeks. 



96 PIN - MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

CELERY 

Celery requires rich, moist soil, and should be 
transplanted twice. Ten or twelve tons of ma- 
nure to an acre should he used or six hundred 
pounds of commercial fertilizer. For celery cul- 
ture see Farmer's Bulletin, No. 162. 

SWISS CHARD 

Swiss chard is easy to cultivate, as it is a rapid 
grower and very productive. The leaves are 
broad and thick, and are served like spinach. 
After cutting the leaves for table greens, a second 
crop will grow from the same roots. 

CORN 

Corn should be planted after all the frost is 
out of the ground. The soil should be warm and 
rich. There should be only two or three plants 
in a hill. There are so many corn pests that late 
fall plowing and dressing with kainit are urged, 
to overcome the cutworm, cornstalk borer, wire 
worm, etc. 

CUCUMBERS 

Cucumbers should be started under glass in 
pots. They require light, rich soil, and well- 
rotted manure should be spaded into each hill. 
When the plants come through the earth, spray 
with Bordeaux Mixture. Air-slaked lime, applied 



RAISING FLOWERS 97 

to both sides of the leaves when wet, will rid the 
plants of the cucumber beetle. 

EGGPLANT 

These are grown in hills, after being started in 
pots under glass. The soil should be a light, well- 
drained, sandy loam. Compost and a handful of 
commercial fertilizer should be spaded into each 
hill. The fruit is edible from the time it is a third 

to a half grown. 

HORSERADISH 

Horseradish is very hardy and the roots multi- 
ply rapidly. The soil should be fairly rich and 
moist. The roots are dug in the fall or spring. 

KOHL-RABI 

Kohl-rabi is a variety of the cabbage family. 
The soil should be the same as for cabbages. 
This is an easily grown vegetable and is very 
much like the white turnip in size and taste. 

LETTUCE 

Lettuce should be grown in rich, light, warm 
soil. Some varieties head up more readily than 
others; during the summer lettuce runs quickly 
to seed. There is no better soil for it than that 
which is enriched with barnyard manure. By 
forcing methods, it may be grown through the 
winter under glass. 



98 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

MUSKMELONS 

Muskmelons are grown in a similar way to 
cucumbers. They are planted in hills; the soil 
should be rich and light, and well drained. When 
the vines are about two feet long, pinch off the 
ends to induce branching. 

ONIONS 

Onion seeds should be planted very early in the 
spring, in rows. The soil should be thoroughly 
plowed in the fall, and should be moist, rich, and 
well-drained. Onions must be carefully thinned 
by hand and the soil kept well broken up about 
the plants to conserve the moisture. As the 
onions ripen, the tops begin to die. 

PARSLEY 

This may be grown all winter in the house in 
boxes. When planted out-of-doors, sow thinly 
in good deep garden soil. Fertilize occasionally 
with liquid manure. The leaves are cut as wanted, 
and they will grow quickly again after being cut. 

PARSNIPS 

Parsnips require a cool, rich, moist soil. Do 
not allow the soil to bake over the seeds. Plant 
in rows a foot and a half apart. Sow the seeds 
thickly, thinning when the seeds are well up. 



RAISING FLOWERS 99 

Parsnips can be kept all winter in a sand pit in 

the cellar. 

PEAS 

Peas do not require a rich soil. They should 
be planted in two rows close together. Late peas 
should be planted deep, about six inches. 

POTATOES 

Potatoes require a deep, rich, sandy loam soil, 
free from scab. Plants must be constantly culti- 
vated until wellgrown. If one can afford to plant 
moderate-sized whole potatoes, rather than pieces, 
the crop will be larger and better. Plant in rows 
about a foot and a half apart, four inches deep. 
The constant cultivation will preserve the needed 
moisture and keep the weeds away. When the 
plants are six inches high, spray with Paris green 
or Bordeaux Mixture. 

RADISHES 

Radishes are hardy, quick-growing vegetables. 
The soil must be light and warm. The seeds can 
be sown in drills or broadcast, about half an inch 
deep, very early in the spring, and from then on 
through the summer and fall. 

RHUBARB 

Rhubarb can be grown well in a cool, dark 
cellar, and when forced out of season brings a 



100 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

high price in the market. If rhubarb roots are 
well frozen and then placed in a dark, cool cellar, 
and covered with a few inches of earth, and wa- 
tered slightly until the shoots appear, the results 
are most satisfactory. Half-barrels may be placed 
over the stalks, and in their effort to reach the 
light, the stalks grow long, and bring a good 

price. 

SPINACH 

Spinach should be planted in the early spring 
or early fall. It is also grown well in cold-frames. 
It should mature in about six weeks. The soil 
should be rich and light and moist. 

SQUASHES 

The soil for squashes should be quick and warm, 
and not too dry. After the vines have flowered, 
pinch them back that the strength may go to 
the fruit rather than to the leaves. Squashes 
planted in hills, should be about four feet apart 
each way. 

SWEET POTATOES 

Sweet potatoes require a light, loose, rich soil. 

Stable manure should be well worked into the 

soil. 

TOMATOES 

Tomatoes should be planted in soil which has 
been heavily manured the previous year. It must 



RAISING FLOWERS 101 

be rich and not too dry. The plants should be 
transplanted two or three times from pots rather 
than flats. They require constant cultivation 
and frequent applications of liquid manure. To- 
matoes vary greatly in color and size, and are 
not subject to many pests. When rot or blight 
appear, use Bordeaux Mixture. 



PRIZE-TAKER VEGETABLES 

(By Peter Henderson) 

" There is much pleasure and considerable pin- 
money to be earned by raising ' prize-taker vege- 
tables.' Every woman who takes pleasure in 
growing extra fine specimens, for exhibition pur- 
poses or for a fine trade, will find some of the fol- 
lowing hints of great value. 

" For exhibition purposes, the soil should be 
more carefully prepared than usual, dug deeper, 
6 trenched ' if possible, with an abundance of well- 
rotted manure so thoroughly incorporated with 
the soil that there will be no lumps. If such 
preparation can be accomplished the preceding 
fall, the soil will be richer and in a more mellow, 
friable condition than is possible with spring 
preparation. Deep, rich, mellow, under-drained 
soil, is a prime factor in producing best vegetables. 
Another essential is frequent cultivation, not 



102 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

only to keep the weeds down, but to form a sur- 
face mulch, to conserve the soil's moisture. 

" Grow the plants further apart than in ordi- 
nary garden culture, and do not permit growth 
to be checked from lack of water during dry 
spells. Keep the plants well nourished with oc- 
casional applications of liquid manure, or sprinkle 
about each plant and rake in, a tablespoonful of 
high-grade fertilizer about once a week. 

" Asparagus. The largest well-blanched as- 
paragus is produced by placing small drain tiles 
or similar tubes over the strongest appearing 
stalks and filling in with soil. When ready to 
cut, lift the tiles and the soil will fall away. 

" Beans. Stimulate growth before bloom by 
sprinkling about each plant a tablespoonful of 
nitrate of soda, and rake in. When plants are 
fairly in bloom, apply occasionally in same way 
and same quantity some commercial fertilizer high 
in potash, or water with liquid manure. When 
pods begin to swell, pinch off the top of the 
branches and remove all but three of four pods 
to a stalk. 

" Cabbage and Cauliflower. Sprinkle around 
each plant and rake in once a week, a table- 
spoonful of commercial fertilizer or water with 
liquid manure. 

" Corn. Each plant to stand three feet apart 



RAISING FLOWERS 103 

in a row. Allow only one ear to a plant. Feed 
with liquid manure once a week or rake in a 
tablespoonful of fertilizer about each plant. 

" Eggplant. Allow only two fruits to a plant 
and feed with liquid manure or fertilizer as pre- 
viously advised. 

" Onion. Sow the seed thinly and transplant 
the seedlings four to six inches apart in extra 
rich soil and cultivate frequently. 

" Pepper. Thin out the branches to admit 
sun and air; allow but few fruits to a plant. 

" Tomato. Prune plants of superfluous growth 
and allow but two or three fruits to set on a 
branch. 

" Root Crops. Beet, Carrot, Parsnip, Turnip, 
Ruta-baga. If stony or pebbly, the soil should 
be dug out and sifted as deep as the roots are 
supposed to grow, so they will come out smooth 
and free from surface indentations. The holes 
should be two or three feet deep and three inches 
or more in diameter for long-rooted beets, car- 
rots, parsnips, etc., and are best made with a post- 
hole auger or digger, though a crowbar or spade 
may be utilized. 

" Fill in with sifted soil mixed with pulverized, 
rotted manure. Sow five or six seeds in each and 
leave but one strong seedling in each hole. 

" Vines. Cucumbers, Melons, Pumpkins, 



104 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Squash. Make the hills further apart than ad- 
vised for ordinary culture. Incorporate plenty of 
well-rotted manure with the soil. Leave but one 
or two of the strongest seedlings in a hill. When 
vines are of a sufficient size, pinch off ends of 
leaders and keep all superfluous growth removed. 
Pull a little soil over each joint of runners, feeding 
fruit, so that they may take root. After the 
fruit has set, pull off all but one or two of the 
strongest to each lateral. Feed with liquid ma- 
nure, or fertilize as previously advised." 



Success with Berries, Grapes, Currants, 

etc 

(By Peter Henderson) 

" Strawberries. Ordinary ' ground layers,' 
carried over winter in cold frames, are procurable 
in spring, and the earlier they are set out the 
better. Pot-grown plants may be purchased dur- 
ing the late summer or autumn. 

" If set out not later than September, they will 
bear a good crop the succeeding season. 

" The plants are set fifteen inches apart, in rows 
two feet apart; ioo plants will plant four rows, 
thirty feet long. An acre requires 14,500 plants, 
if set at the above distance, but for horse culti- 



RAISING FLOWERS 105 

vation, they should be set two feet apart, in rows 
three feet apart, thus requiring 7,260 plants to 
an acre. 

" Firm the plants well in the soil, keep thor- 
oughly cultivated and cut off all runners. In the 
middle of December cover the beds to a depth of 
three inches, with salt meadow hay, straw, or 
leaves. In April, as soon as the plants show an 
indication of growth, push the covering away 
from the plants to allow them to come up through. 
This ' mulching ' protects the plants from the 
cold in winter and the heat in summer, keeps the 
fruit clean, and prevents the growth of weeds. 

" The blossoms of strawberries are either stam- 
inate (perfect flowering) or are destitute of sta- 
mens, and are termed ' pistillate ? (imperfect 
flowering). Pistillate varieties must have a row 
of some perfect flowered sort flowering at the 
same time, planted every nine to twelve feet apart, 
among them, or, better yet, every third or fourth 
plant in the row, to pollenize their blossoms. When 
properly pollenized, the pistillate varieties, are 
usually the most prolific. 

" Hardy Grapes may be planted any time while 
they are dormant, and the ground is free from 
frost, which is generally from the first of Octo- 
ber until the middle of November, and from the 
first of April to May. The soil best suited for the 



106 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

growing of the hardy grapes is what is known as 
a light, rich loam. If the drainage is not perfect 
naturally, it must be supplied by draining arti- 
ficially. 

" In preparing the ground for grapevines, 
a hole should be dug at least two feet deep and 
wide, and the bottom filled in with rubble, so as 
to secure drainage. The soil should be well en- 
riched with manure, and in planting, the roots 
should be spread in a lateral direction, and at 
least four inches under the surface. After plant- 
ing, the ground must be thoroughly firmed with 
the feet around the plant and a good watering 
given. For family use, the best method of train- 
ing and pruning is what is known as the ' spur ' 
system. On receiving the vines from the nursery, 
they may consist of one or more shoots, but on 
planting them, they should be cut back, to three 
or four eyes, or buds, and when they start to grow, 
all the buds should be rubbed off, except one, se- 
lecting the strongest, and, as far as possible, the 
one nearest the ground. 

" When the vine starts the following year, rub 
off" all eyes or buds, excepting two of the strong- 
est and nearest to the ground. These will form 
two canes, and should reach a height of ten or 
twelve feet. In the fall, when the leaves drop, 
these should be cut back to about four feet, and 



RAISING FLOWERS 107 

laid down on the ground. When cold weather 
sets in, cover them with four or five inches of 
leaves or litter. In the spring, before the buds 
swell, the canes should be trained horizontally, 
one to the right and the other to the left. As the 
vines should be planted eight feet apart, this will 
make the arms of the proper length, and upright 
growths will spring from the canes thus laid down. 

" Not more than eight should be allowed to 
grow, and they should be selected so as to be 
about a foot apart. The height of these upright 
growths may be regulated, according to the height 
of the arbor, fence or building, where they are 
planted; anywhere from three to fifteen feet 
will answer. Vines thus treated may be allowed 
to produce a few bunches the third year, and by 
the sixth year may be fruited to the height of 
ten or twelve feet, if the vines are trained that 
high. If they are grown lower, they ought to 
mature every bunch set. 

" As the fruit is always borne on the lateral 
branches, not more than two bunches should 
be allowed to remain on each branch, and unless 
the vine is very strong, not more than one bunch 
should be allowed. Summer pruning is of the 
highest importance. When the main shoots are 
growing beyond bounds, they should be pinched 
back, as this conserves the strength of the vine 



108 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

and also develops laterals. These laterals should 
be pinched in turn, when they become crowded, 
and in many cases had better be cut back to the 
second eye. It is also a good practice after the 
fruit is set, and while it is the size of a small pea, 
to cut off all the vine beyond the bunch. Again, 
if at any time during the season, there appears 
to be a superabundance of foliage, it is a good 
practice to pinch some of it off, so as to allow 
free access of light and air to the bunches. The 
regular pruning may be done at any time from 
November to March, and while it is almost im- 
possible to tell exactly how each particular vine 
should be pruned, yet it is safe to say, that if all 
the very light wood is cut away, and the side 
shoots, to the thickness of a lead pencil or over, 
are cut back to the eye above where it started 
from in the spring, the work will be well done. 

Currants do well in any good garden soil, but 
it is important that they be in an exposed situa- 
tion, where they have the full benefit of sunlight 
and air. The red or white currants should be 
planted three feet apart each way. One of the 
most important points in the cultivation of cur- 
rants is pruning. In the fall, as soon as the leaves 
have fallen, at least one third of the young growth 
of the previous summer, should be cut away, 
and all the old shoots in the center of the bush 



RAISING FLOWERS 109 

should be cut out, the object being to allow free 
access of light and air into the center of the bush. 
If desired, currants can be trained against a stone 
wall or fence, and if trained in that way may be 
allowed to reach a height of eight or ten feet, 
taking the same care to prevent overcrowding 
of the branches. When grown in this way, the 
fruit is larger than when grown in bush form. 

" Currants should be sprayed twice, first when 
the worms appear, and again when the fruit is 
half grown. For the worms, use one part Paris 
green to five gallons of water. 

" For the second spraying, use Bordeaux Mix- 
ture; use five pounds of copper sulphate, five 
pounds of unslacked quicklime and fifty gallons 
of water. Slake the lime with water to a thin 
paste and strain this. Place lime paste and 
copper sulphate in a jug, and mix thoroughly 
by shaking; then add this to the full quantity 
of water. 

" Raspberries are partial to a light, rich soil, 
well-drained, and will do well where there is a 
little shade. They should be planted in rows four 
feet apart, and two feet between the plants in 
the row. Either fall or spring will do for planting, 
but if planted in the fall, a covering should be 
put on the first winter. The canes of the rasp- 
berry are biennial — that is, the cane or shoot that 



110 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

is formed one season bears fruit the next season, 
and dies off after fruiting; for this reason all the 
canes that have fruited, should be cut away close 
to the ground when the crop is gathered, and 
new shoots allowed to develop. Not more than 
five or six should be allowed to each plant. 
When the shoots reach a height of four feet, the 
tips should be taken out with the thumb and fin- 
ger, thus stopping the upward growth, and the 
result will be the development of side branches, 
which in turn should be stopped like the main 
shoot, when they have reached about a foot and 
a half in length. 

" Treated in this way, the plants will become 
stocky and self-supporting, and will produce a 
larger and finer crop of fruit than if allowed to 
grow in a scrambling manner. 

" In every exposed situation in northern lati- 
tudes, the canes are not always of iron-clad hardi- 
ness, and therefore some winter protection is 
necessary. In any case a covering of four or five 
inches of leaves or dry litter should be spread 
over the roots, to do away with any possibility 
of injury by frost. In localities where it is essen- 
tial to cover the canes, it is better to bend them 
down and cover with pine branches or with a few 
inches of earth thrown over them. 

" Blackberries. The cultivation of the black- 



RAISING FLOWERS 111 

berry is nearly similar to that of the raspberry, 
except that it should be planted about one-third 
farther apart, and being hardier, there is no need 
of winter covering. 

" Dewberry. This is of a trailing habit, and 
will do very well at the foot of old walls or in 
any out-of-the-way place. It responds readily, 
however, to good culture. 

" It should be planted in rows six feet apart, 
with the plants three feet apart in the rows, and 
should be treated the same as strawberries. Do 
not let the ground get completely covered with 
the vines, but keep them trained along the row, 
allowing a free space along each row for cultiva- 
tion, and for a pathway to pick the fruit." 

BLACK-CAPS 

" Black raspberries have furnished me with all 
my pin-money for Christmas. Our farm is within 
driving distance of the city. The berries are 
packed in cases holding twenty-four pint boxes 
each. I have earned over #40 by the sale of 
these black-caps." 

CHECKERBERRIES 

" Checkerberries grow plentifully in our woods. 
I have earned a little pin-money by picking these 



112 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

berries and selling them to the fruit dealers and 
grocery stores in our town." 

GRAPES 

" In our yard are three grapevines. I had 
learned through the United States Department 
of Agriculture that the quality and quantity 
of grapes could be greatly improved by enclosing 
each bunch of grapes in a common paper bag at 
the time when the blossoms are fully matured, 
but just before the grapes begin to form. The 
bunches were selected, and enclosed in common 
yellow paper bags, size five. The bunch is slipped 
into the bag, which in turn is tied tightly around 
the stem. Make a small slit in the lower corner 
of the bag to let out the water. 

" The result was that I sold the large, perfectly 
developed bunches for fancy prices to the fine 
trade." 

In Fredonia, N. Y., a large colony of Italians 
hold title to more than 1700 acres of land, which 
are devoted entirely to grape growing. The fresh 
grapes sell for about $25 a ton. 

The wine from a ton of grapes sells for about 
$35. In shipping grapes to market, they should 
be solidly packed in ten-pound baskets, with 
wooden covers, held in place by wires at either 
end. If one can devote only half an acre to 



RAISING FLOWERS 113 

grapes, and sell direct to the trade, a good income 
is assured, as half an acre should produce over a 
ton of grapes yearly. 

APPLE GROWING 

In Delaware a wealthy woman has taken up 
apple growing on a large scale. Her apples are 
taking many prizes at the county fairs, and her 
income is increasing every year. 

In Topeka, Kansas, Judge Fred Wellhouse owns 
over sixteen hundred acres of apple orchard. 
More than five hundred thousand bushels of 
apples were sold from his trees, of his own plant- 
ing, for a sum exceeding $205,000. 

These figures tell a story of wonderful achieve- 
ment. Judge Wellhouse has kept a complete 
record of all expenditures and receipts during 
the years he has been engaged in commercial 
orcharding. His record crop was in 1890, when 
eighty thousand bushels of apples were picked, 
which sold for more than $50,000. This was, 
in all probability, the most valuable crop of apples 
ever grown by any one man in the Middle West. 

In picking, the men averaged forty bushels 
each per day. For harvesting the crops of 1890 
and 1891 $31,250 was paid to pickers and 
packers. For hauling from the fields to the 
packing house $6,425 was paid. The cost of 



114 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

hauling to the railroad and loading on cars was 
$11,565; the barrels cost $17,000 and about 
$1,500 was spent for miscellaneous items, such 
as boxes, extra hoops, etc. The total outlay 
for gathering the crops and placing them on the 
market, was $67,080; the gross sales amounted 
to $205,903. This leaves the net return from 
apples alone of $138,063. But this amount did 
not represent all the profit, as corn was grown 
between the tree rows. The corn was grown by 
tenants, and the landlord received one-third of 
it for rent. Of the 161,000 bushels of corn grown, 
he received 53,600 bushels, which sold at an 
average of thirty cents per bushel, netting about 
$14,750, and paying all expenses of planting and 
growing the orchard to the time of their bearing. 
This is a truthful record of what one man has 
accomplished in Kansas. Many women are suc- 
cessfully raising apples, pears, oranges, lemons, 
plums, pecans, pineapples, quinces, apricots, and 
cherries. If this fruit-growing appeals to you, 
write to the United States Department of Agri- 
culture at Washington, D. C, and ask for their 
free literature on any one subject. 

TOMATO CLUBS 

In Aiken County, South Carolina, Miss Marie 
Cromer, who was formerly a teacher in a Southern 



RAISING FLOWERS 115 

school, is now a salaried officer of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, and her work is that of or- 
ganizing " Tomato Clubs " for girls. The Boys' 
Corn Clubs, which number over 100,000 members, 
attracted the attention of Miss Cromer, and she 
felt there should be a similar agricultural open- 
ing for the girls. The work done by Miss Cromer 
was so satisfactory in every way, and productive 
of such splendid results, that the General Board 
of Education in New York City entrusted a sum 
of $25,000 to her, for the equipment and fur- 
therance of her agricultural work among women 
and girls. 

One of the girls studying under Miss Cromer 
put up 512 cans of tomatoes which she raised 
on one-tenth of an acre of land. Her profits 
were $40 or at the rate of $400 an acre. As 
the work progresses, the girls are to be taught 
how to raise cucumbers, and other garden prod- 
ucts. 

MUSHROOM CULTURE 
(By W. A. Burpee) 

" The mushroom is a much sought and popu- 
lar edible fungus, which can be grown easily on 
any farm where there is a cellar, or in any room 
the temperature of which does not fall below forty 
or fifty degrees in the coldest winter weather. 



116 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Small beds for home supply may be made in 
corners of the stable or in boxes in the house 
cellar, as the well-prepared beds do not have any 
offensive odor, nor do they throw off any delete- 
rious gases. The main point to be observed is to 
secure a place for the beds protected from ex- 
cessive moisture. 

" The second requisite is an ample supply of 
fresh horse manure. The third requisite is a 
supply of reliable spawn for inoculating the beds. 

" Aside from the desirability of having a winter 
supply of mushrooms for home use, they are a 
very profitable crop to send to market during the 
winter months, and the manure from the spent 
beds in the spring is an excellent top dressing 
for the garden, grass fields, or as a compost in 
planting corn. Mushrooms can also be grown 
out of doors during the summer months, or under 
open sheds, but must be used soon after gather- 
ing, as they become infected with maggots in a 
day or two, and cannot be shipped to distant 
markets. 

" The mushroom does not produce seed, but 
springs from a cluster of slender white threads, 
which are called c spawn/ when preserved in 
bricks of dried horse manure. These threads can 
be seen running among the grass roots of an old 
pasture after a warm, dry spell in summer. 



RAISING FLOWERS 117 

" The mushrooms spring up spontaneously 
after the first rain following each dry period. 
These conditions are to be reproduced and made 
even more favorable in the cultivated beds, and 
larger crops, as well as a longer-continued supply, 
may be expected from these conditions. If kept 
in a cool, dry place, the spawn will retain its vi- 
tality for a long time. 

" The first step in preparing the beds is to stack 
the fresh horse manure (no other manure will 
give the heating qualities and there seems to be 
an especial affinity between the threads and horse 
droppings) in a square or oblong heap, three feet 
or more in height, to ferment, packing it solidly 
together, and rejecting any manure that has be- 
come burnt, or c fire-fanged.' If the heap cannot 
be kept under cover to prevent its being soaked 
by heavy rains, it should be protected by a tem- 
porary covering of loose boards. 

" At brief intervals of from six to ten days, 
accordingly as the heat increases more or less 
rapidly, the heap must be turned over, building 
it afresh and packing it together to prevent the 
inner portion from burning, and turning the outer 
portion into the center of the heap. At the sec- 
ond or third turning, one-third of the bulk of the 
manure may be added in light, loamy soil, to be 
thoroughly mixed with the manure. The best 



118 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

soil for this purpose and for covering the beds 
may be obtained by stacking up sods cut from 
the pasture fields, or from the fence rows, about 
two months previous to the soil being needed for 
use. 

" When the first strong heat of the manure 
has dissolved the fresh straw and the heap will 
crumble easily in turning, and warm manure ceases 
to give off the pungent smell of ammonia, which 
should be in from two to three weeks from first 
stacking, it is ready for making the beds. Do 
not leave this too long, or the manure will lose 
much of its heating qualities. The beds are usu- 
ally made in boxes on the cellar floor by setting 
up boards, to form pathways, or on tiers of shelv- 
ing around the wall. 

" The prepared manure should be solidly and 
evenly packed in these beds, ten to twelve inches 
in depth. Place a thermometer with the bulb 
well buried in the manure so that you can readily 
tell the temperature of the beds from day to day. 

" If the manure is in proper condition, the tem- 
perature should rise rapidly, going as high as one 
hundred degrees or even higher. If it reaches 
one hundred and twenty-five degrees, the beds 
will need to be cooled off by making holes in them 
every foot or so, and opening the doors or win- 
dows or ventilators. These holes must be filled 



RAISING FLOWERS 119 

and packed solidly as soon as the temperature 
falls to one hundred degrees. 

" When the heat begins to fall and gets down to 
seventy-five or eighty degrees, it is the proper 
time to spawn the beds. Cut each brick into 
pieces, two by three inches, and make holes in the 
surface of the bed nine inches apart each way, 
and two inches deep. 

" Place one of the cut pieces of spawn in each 
hole and pack the surface down even and smooth. 
A brick, or heavy, flat, wooden mallet, is an ex- 
cellent tool to make the bed firm and solid. Do 
not water the bed until the spawn has run through 
it, which should take from four to six weeks. In 
a week or ten days after spawning, the casing or 
covering of earth, one inch in depth, may be 
placed on the bed. Light, loamy soil, such as 
well-rotted sod, is best for this purpose. Spread 
it evenly over the bed, and pack lightly with back 
of spade or piece of board. When the spawn has 
run well through the bed, water well with tepid 
water, and keep the surface slightly moist, not 
wet, until the mushrooms appear. If the heat 
of the manure is well spent, or the beds cool from 
location, or very cold weather, the mushrooms 
will be longer in appearing than if the temperature 
is normal. Ordinarily the mushrooms should 
appear in from six to eight weeks." 



120 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

HERBS 

" I have earned all my pin-money this year 
growing the following herbs: anise, arnica, bo- 
rage, camomile, caraway, catnip, horehound, lav- 
ender and licorice. Marjoram, marshmallow, 
mint, and dandelions have brought me in over 

TEA PLANT 

In the Southern States the cultivation of the 
tea plant is very profitable. Home-grown tea 
is free from adulterations, such as Prussian blue, 
indigo, turmeric, soapstone and leaves of other 
plants. In the autumn, this beautiful evergreen 
plant is covered with handsome, fragrant whitish 
flowers, having a golden yellow center, making 
it very ornamental. An intelligent servant can 
easily pick and make the leaves into tea. The 
process is very simple. The average tea bush will 
produce about three ounces of cured tea. 

PEPPERMINT 

" On an acre of muck land I have grown a 
profitable crop of peppermint. The roots were 
planted close together in furrows. The crop 
is harvested from the latter part of August to 
the last of September. The largest yield and best 
oil is from the first year's crop. About 300 pounds 



RAISING FLOWERS 121 

of dried peppermint are required for one pound 
of oil. My acre of ground yielded over thirty 
pounds of the oil, which I sold for #75.00." 



HEAD LETTUCE 

" As I lived on a farm, I decided that my pin- 
money must come from some product of the soil, 
and while glancing over the market reports of a 
daily paper, I noticed head lettuce was quoted at 
fifty cents per dozen. Then I decided to grow 
and ship lettuce. Labor being cheap, I hired a 
boy to do the heavy work, such as fertilizing and 
preparing the ground. Early in the fall I had it 
plowed again, and made into narrow, but rather 
high beds. In these beds I planted my seeds, 
using the Big Boston variety. I planted every 
third row, and when the plants had three or four 
leaves I transplanted to the beds I had left va- 
cant. As soon as the weather began to get cool 
the plants grew very fast. Lettuce requires a 
cool, moist atmosphere, and light, rich soil. I 
had these conditions, and my lettuce grew rap- 
idly. 

" As soon as the heads began forming, I looked 
around for the best market. After hearing from 
a number of commission houses, I was offered 
#5.60 per sugar barrel of fourteen dozen heads. 



122 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

" I packed and iced each barrel, carefully pick- 
ing off all decayed leaves, and shipped to cities 
where only hothouse lettuce could be grown in 
winter. My first shipments netted me #4.20, 
commission, express, ice and barrels being about 
$1.40. 

" Seed and labor, #3.00. Hoeing and trans- 
planting I did myself, as I had been advised to 
spend as much time as possible out of doors. 
When my lettuce was sold and I had some $80.00 
to my credit, as well as improved health, I felt 
very proud." 

WINTER RHUBARB 

" Here is one way in which I earned money for 
music lessons. We have a large cellar with an 
earth floor but having a furnace. Along one side 
of this I made a garden, putting in earth com- 
posed of two-thirds dirt (rich loam) and one-third 
horse manure. In this, the last of October, I 
planted rhubarb roots about a foot apart; these 
I watered with warm water, and over some of 
the plants I put barrels with the tops and bottoms 
knocked off. This made the plants grow long in 
their endeavor to reach the light. By the first 
of January, I had a fine lot of rhubarb, with stalks 
equaling in size and color any outdoor-grown 
rhubarb. This I found a ready market for at 



RAISING FLOWERS 123 

seventy-five cents a pound. This coming winter 
I intend to have still more plants, as the supply 
of rhubarb did not fill the demands I had 
for it." r L. H. 

WATERCRESS 

" Watercress has brought in the pennies for 
me. There is a demand for a fine quality of water- 
cress the year round in the markets of all the 
large cities and towns, but I have been fortunate 
in selling direct to private customers, receiving 
ten cents a bunch through the fall, winter, and 
early spring. 

" In the late fall, that part of the brook where 
the cress grows, is covered with boughs, and 
leaves are piled on to these. This temporary shel- 
ter protects the cress to a great extent. 

" I have also been successful in raising water- 
cress in the house, under glass, from roots which 
I have transplanted into good loam and kept 
in a warm, moist place." 

CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER 

" My pin-money has been earned by raising 
cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce in cold-frames. 

" These cold-frames are made on the surface 
of the ground, no excavation being required. 
They are located in a sunny, sheltered position, 
protected from the north and west winds. 



124 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

" The seeds were planted early enough to per- 
mit the plants to develop nearly their maximum 
size before freezing weather set in, after which 
but little growth will be made. 

" The plants then stand still, remaining crisp 
and fresh for weeks. 

" When the weather is extremely cold, ten 
degrees above zero or colder, the sashes are well 
covered at night with straw mats and board 
shutters. These coverings are taken off through 
the day, unless the ground in the frame was 
frozen before they were put on. In the latter 
case, if they remain on for two or three days, dur- 
ing severe cold spells, no harm will be done. 

" The smaller, early varieties are used, such 
as Miniature Marrow and Wakefield cabbage; 
Snowball cauliflower, Tenderheart, Mignonette, 
and Golden Queen lettuce. 

" Living near New York, the cabbage and 
cauliflower seeds were sown early in August; the 
lettuce early in September." 

FLOWERS FOR PROFIT 

There are many kinds of flowering plants that 
may be safely transplanted; and if started in a 
hotbed, will bloom much earlier. Such plants 
will be eagerly purchased, especially in the smaller 
towns where there are no regular florists. In 



RAISING FLOWERS 125 

such communities, a woman may also find it 
profitable to start house plants, whether from 
bulbs, seed, or slips. These, if of rare varieties 
and placed in attractive pots, she will find little 
difficulty in selling to her neighbors who love 
flowers, but have no knack of raising them. 

The work requires but little capital, and is not 
difficult. Nevertheless it is best for one who has 
had no experience to begin on a small scale. A 
few choice plants may be grown in a box by the 
kitchen window; or large hotbeds may be con- 
structed. Directions for the care of plants and 
the making of hotbeds may be found in almost 
any horticultural journal. Also, bulletins on the 
subject may be obtained free from the Agricul- 
tural Department at Washington; and then there 
are numerous books on horticulture which, if 
carefully studied, will enable any one who loves 
flowers and plants to succeed in raising them. 

SWEET PEAS FOR PROFIT 

In a quaint, old New England town, there lived 
a " sweet-pea lady " who was the envy of all her 
friends. Though a semi-invalid, this little woman 
did much of the hoeing, weeding, and planting her- 
self. In the beginning, only two rows or thirty 
cents' worth of seeds were planted. The third 
year an eighth of an acre was used. Twelve years 



126 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

later her peas covered some two acres and 1500 
stems were picked daily. 

In cultivating these beautiful blossoms, cow 
manure was spread over the ground in the fall. 
In the spring when all frost was out of the 
ground, the soil was turned and loosened, and 
the manure plowed in. Then trenches two feet 
deep were dug, and manure and rich soil put in. 
The seed was sown at about a depth of six inches. 
At first the seeds were covered two inches deep. 
As the plants grew, the rest of the trench was 
filled in. Thus deep planting was secured with- 
out the bad effect of deep covering. 

In this way the roots were strengthened, the 
plants were more sturdy, and there was a pro- 
fuse blooming through the heat of summer. The 
seeds were sown between the first of March and 
the middle of April. They were planted fairly 
thickly, and the plants came up thick and bushy. 
These were supported on a wire fencing running 
the length of each row. All seeds of one variety 
were planted together, thus making it easier to fill 
special orders. Every morning the vines were 
carefully gone over, and every blossom picked. 

Chickens were allowed to run freely among the 
vines, to destroy the cutworm, which had been 
especially active during the past few years. 

The plants were not watered unless there was a 



RAISING FLOWERS 127 

long dry spell, and the blossoms were never sent to 
market, until they had been placed in cold water 
overnight. 

These bunches were artistically arranged before 
being sent to market. An elastic band held the 
flowers together in a loose, attractive manner. 
Every bunch had a touch of delicate green added. 
This woman's business has grown so that it has 
netted her over 100% profit. 

VIOLET RAISING 

Violet raising offers both pleasure and profit, 
and with a little intelligent care quite a sum 
may be realized in a season. 

Obtain first-class plants, bearing either single 
or double blossoms, and plant in boxes, pots, or 
cold-frames. If you use boxes they should be 
deep enough for the plant roots to extend from 
four to six inches into the soil. This soil should 
be rich in manure, and the plants should have 
plenty of water and good drainage. 

The temperature of the room should be from 
fifty-five to seventy degrees, and should have 
plenty of sunshine. Plant the violets in Septem- 
ber for winter blossoms, and as they blossom they 
should be picked to increase the supply. Every 
plant should bear from fifty to one hundred blos- 
soms a season; these are arranged in bunches of 



128 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

from thirty to fifty flowers, and sell from fifty 
cents to one dollar per bunch. 

Each plant as it increases throws out crowns, 
which should be detached from the mother plant 
each season and transplanted. In this way the 
plants will multiply rapidly. If you wish to use 
cold-frames, make an outdoor garden, preferably 
on the south side of a cellar or building; the length 
should run east and west so the glass top will 
slant to the south. Board up around the bed 
about eight inches high, cover the top with glass 
sashes, letting it slope south, then pack earth 
or manure around the boards to keep all frost out, 
and use heavy shutters to cover the glass at night. 
During the day remove these shutters and let the 
sun shine on the plants. Use a rich soil and plenty 
of water, providing for a good drainage in the 
bottom of the beds. You may sell your blos- 
soms as they are ordered, or you may arrange 
with a near-by florist to buy them in large quan- 
tities. 

Violets, if properly packed, can be shipped 
quite a distance and still be fresh; they are very 
rapid sellers, and are easy to raise. 

VIOLETS 

" As the rear of our house faced the south, a 
greenhouse was planned in the form of a lean-to, 



RAISING FLOWERS 129 

attached to the house. This was twenty-five feet 
long by twelve feet wide. The steam pipes were 
easily conducted from the house boiler to the 
greenhouse. The entire cost was less than #150. 
This house was devoted to violet raising. The 
kinds raised were the Princess Louise, La France, 
Parma, and Russian. From six hundred plants the 
first year, I netted about $225. Each plant should 
average about fifty blooms during the season. 

" Quite a little money was also earned by 
supplying the members of a summer colony with 
flowers at a good price." 

GROWING ASTERS 

A prolonged display of asters may be enjoyed 
by growing the early, medium, and late varieties. 
But for brilliant effects, the late variety should 
be grown, the seeds of which should be sown at 
intervals of three or four weeks, from February 
until June. 

The " secret of success " in raising asters is 
this: The plants should receive no check in their 
growth, from the seedling stage to bud develop- 
ment. A temperature of sixty degrees is the best 
for perfect development. The plants should be 
grown cool when young, bottom heat not being 
used in germinating the seed. The soil for asters 
must be rich, loamy, and deeply-worked. 



130 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

The roots should go down into the soil as far 
as possible and not be on the surface. When 
aster seeds are sown early under glass, shallow 
boxes (two and one-half to three inches deep), 
pots, or earthen seed pans may be used, either 
of the latter being preferred, on account of the 
watering, which may be done when required, 
by immersing the pot or pan for half an hour, 
nearly to the surface of the soil; this method is 
preferable to surface sprinkling reducing any 
tendency of the seedlings to damp off. The best 
compost for the seeds and seedlings is prepared 
by mixing decayed leaf-mold with enough loamy 
soil to render it fairly firm, and with a sufficient 
admixture of sand to facilitate drainage. 

Sow the seed thinly, and barely cover by sift- 
ing over them some of the soil. Give no water 
unless the soil becomes decidedly dry, and then 
it is better to immerse the seed pan in water 
than to wet the surface. A sheet of glass laid 
over the seed pan prevents rapid evaporation, 
and hastens germination, but the glass should be 
removed as soon as the seedlings are above the 
soil, or it would draw them up slim and spindling, 
particularly if the temperature is too warm and 
there is not enough air. The pan may be placed 
in a cool greenhouse, a sunny window, cold-frame, 
or pit, or a spent hotbed, but the temperature 



RAISING FLOWERS 131 

should not exceed sixty degrees and plenty of fresh 
air at all times should circulate about the plants. 
When the seedlings have attained the third leaf, 
they should be transplanted about an inch apart, 
with the aid of a sharpened stick about the size of a 
lead pencil, into other seed pans or shallow boxes, 
containing fresh soil of a similar nature to that 
already advised. In a couple of weeks, if the 
seedlings have been properly grown, they may be 
transplanted into two and one-half or three inch 
pots, and be grown in these until " setting-out " 
time in May. 

Prepare the aster seed bed in a sheltered posi- 
tion. The soil should be rich, finely worked, and 
friable, with some wood ashes, soot, or a dusting of 
lime incorporated with the soil in the drills. A 
shutter made of laths with one and one-half 
inch openings, supported by stakes over the bed, 
or a muslin sheet, will break the force of the sun, 
and check evaporation from the soil, and prevent 
a crust forming on the surface, through which 
the seedlings cannot always penetrate. These 
plants are hearty feeders, and they must root 
as deeply as possible. Keep the ground free from 
weeds and frequently stirred, but do not stir 
deeply enough to injure the surface roots. 

When well in bud, a top dressing of well-rotted 
stable manure among the plants not only nourishes 



132 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

them, but keeps the surface of the soil cool and 
moist. Liquid manure will greatly assist in pro- 
ducing magnificent flowers. This must not touch 
the foliage, however. 

The immense, long-stemmed asters seen in the 
florist's window are produced by allowing the well- 
grown plants to carry but five or six main stems, 
each with its terminal flower. All other stems, 
side branches and buds are removed, to throw the 
life of the plant into the few remaining flowers. 

The large, tall asters should be planted about 
twelve inches apart. 

OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS 

" Last summer, with the aid of my two little 
boys, aged eight and eleven, we made $40 selling 
home-grown flowers. We live in a summer-re- 
sort town, where there are many hotels and sum- 
mer cottages, and find that such flowers as sweet 
peas, asters, pansies, violets, dahlias, and gladioli 
are gladly bought by our city guests. In Febru- 
ary I sow my pansy seed in window boxes, and 
when frost is over, and the ground warm, I have 
stocky, healthy little plants to set out, which give 
an abundance of early flowers to put on the 
market. 

" As soon as the ground can be worked in 
March, I plant out two or three rows of sweet 



RAISING FLOWERS 133 

peas, each about fifty feet in length. I buy my 
sweet pea seed by the pound, and thus get it 
much cheaper than by the package. These usu- 
ally begin to blossom in June. I start the aster 
seed in boxes in the house late in March, and plant 
more every two weeks, so as to have a succession 
of bloom from the earliest to the latest. When 
they have formed the second leaf, I transplant 
them into other boxes, or out into their permanent 
bed, if the weather is warm and settled. They 
have to be planted in good, rich soil, and kept 
hoed free from weeds to give the best results. 
My gladioli and dahlia bulbs I save from year to 
year, and set them out as soon as warm enough to 
do so. 

" When these different flowers come into blos- 
som, we make them up into dainty, generous 
bunches, and sell them for five cents a bunch. 
We arrange them nicely on a tray, and my boys 
have no trouble in disposing of them to the guests 
at the hotels and cottages. We could sell many 
more if we had more garden room and time to 
tend to them." Mrs. H. O. B. 

PEONIES FOR MARKET 

" The beginning was a bunch of grandmother's 
old-fashioned ' pinies.' It was a late spring and 
flowers were scarce for Decoration Day. A florist 



134 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

said: c If I had an acre of those peonies I could 
make a thousand dollars this spring.' The remark 
may have been an exaggeration, but I thought: 
6 Then I could make some part of the thousand 
dollars from our door-yard.' I advertised peony 
blooms for sale, and they were all taken at sixty 
cents per dozen. In the fall I bought a few roots 
of the red, pink, and white kinds and the next 
spring again sold all the blooms. I learned that 
the old-fashioned varieties have been greatly 
improved and that now there are hundreds of 
kinds in color, shape, and season, and that the 
peony is a very popular flower for Decoration 
Day, for parties, weddings, and banquets. I 
therefore bought some of the finest kinds, and 
have added a few roots each fall so as to have a 
variety of color and to have blooms early and 
late. Every spring I have more orders than I 
can fill. 

" For Decoration Day, 1908, I cut four hundred 
bloom stalks from fifty clumps, which occupy a 
space twenty by forty feet in our yard. Each 
stalk bore from two to four large blooms. These 
sold for five cents each, or a total of twenty dol- 
lars. The crops should have brought me at least 
five dollars more but I lost some of the earliest 
blooms by allowing them to come to full flower 
before cutting. I should have cut them in tight 



RAISING FLOWERS 135 

bud and stored them in the cool, dark cellar, 
where they would have kept a week or more. I 
also have frequent calls for roots. The varieties 
are selected from the blooming plants and the 
roots are delivered for fall planting. The single 
varieties are much admired for decorative pur- 
poses, but as these flowers bear seeds it is more 
profitable to sell the seeds, which bring five dollars 
per pound. My peonies have also been the means 
of selling lilacs, snowballs, syringa and other flow- 
ers blooming about the yard. 

" A friend, who has a peony garden covering a 
plot about a hundred feet square, has sold roots 
and seeds to the amount of one thousand dollars 
during the last seven years. The roots do not 
produce blooms the first, and sometimes not the 
second season after planting, but they are con- 
tinually increasing, and an old clump may be 
divided into twenty-five or fifty plants. Each 
c eye ' sends forth a stalk, and two or three eyes 
are usually allowed to each root. Such a root 
sells, at retail, from fifteen cents to one dollar, 
according to the variety. 

" The peony garden requires little care after it 
is established and is a source of profit at a time 
when extra pin-money is needed. This would 
be a very good dependence for paying spring and 
fall taxes." L. J. F. 



136 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

WILD FLOWERS AND FRUITS 

" If the country woman who is seeking a means 
of earning money at home will but look about her, 
she will find that Nature has provided boundless 
resources for those who are quick to see and 
prompt to act. With a maple grove and an obli- 
ging man available, she can open the season with 
sugar-making. There is little in connection with 
this work that a girl cannot do alone, and the 
product is one that sells readily. Later in the 
season a fair sum may be realized from the sale 
of horseradish. After cleaning the roots, pass 
them through a food-chopper, moisten with lemon 
juice, add a little salt and just a suspicion of sugar, 
and seal. Prepared in this way the mixture will 
not discolor, as is the case when vinegar is used. 

" One of the most remunerative of woodland 
products is the wild fern, roots selling readily for 
ten cents apiece, just as they come from the 
ground, and potted ones bring more, according to 
size and variety, one of the most desirable being 
the maidenhair. Ferns are also much in demand 
for decoration at social functions, and one would 
do well to solicit orders in this line. For this pur- 
pose, at least part of the root must be secured, 
for ferns droop very quickly when the stems 
are broken. The popularity of the wild-flower 
garden has created a demand for arbutus, azalea, 



RAISING FLOWERS 137 

hepatica, trillium, etc. The blossoms can be sold 
to near-by hotels and restaurants for table dec- 
orations. Flowers should be picked and placed in 
water several hours before delivering, and when 
packed their stems should be wrapped in wet moss. 

" On account of their superior sweetness many 
people prefer wild berries to the cultivated ones; 
especially is this true of blackberries. If too far 
from market to sell them fresh, they may be 
canned and sold later. After frost comes the nut 
harvest, and here promptness may double your 
receipts, for the first chestnuts on the market 
catch the fancy prices. Any leisure days between 
times may be occupied in gathering material for 
pillows — pine-needles, balsam, sweet-fern, milk- 
weed down, etc. ; before the holidays these should 
be made into pillows and sold. 

'' The best prices are realized by selling direct 
to consumer. In time the customers will appeal 
to you for everything the country affords, from 
potting soil for their plants to greens for the Yule- 
tide, and both these suggestions are of value. If 
one does not care to follow this gipsy-like occupa- 
tion indefinitely, it will at least furnish the step- 
ping-stone to something else. A certain young 
matron I know, who now owns a nice little village 
farm and drives her own carriage, began in this 
very way." K. W. 



138 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

FERN BOWLS 

" In the fall, I went into the woods and col- 
lected tree moss, bittersweet, grape fern, and par- 
tridge vines with the red berries on. These I 
planted in small glass globes that I bought at 
the ten cent store. I had round covers made of 
glass to put over these and at Christmas time sold 
them for fern bowls at fifty cents each. They 
need no care after being planted except once a 
month, a little water." E. T. 

POTTED PLANTS 

" From $150. a year up can be earned by the 
sale of potted plants. 

" There is really no reason why any one with a 
cellar or a cool, dark place, in which to start the 
bulbs, should not have a profusion of blooming 
bulbs throughout the entire winter. 

" Do not pot all of the bulbs at once. Com- 
mence potting as soon as the bulbs are in the 
market and continue to make pottings at inter- 
vals of a week to ten days, up to January first. 

" The four-inch pots are used for single bulbs; 
three or more bulbs require the eight-inch pots. 

" Put about an inch of charcoal into the bottom 
of the pots. Then fill the pots about two-thirds 
full of a mixture of good, fibrous loam, sand, and 
leaf-mold, adding a little well-rotted manure. 



RAISING FLOWERS 139 

This earth should be merely jarred down by tap- 
ping the pot on your work bench. 

" Then place the bulbs in the pot, not pressing 
them at all, and add enough earth to fill the pot 
to within an inch of the top. The surface may be 
gently pressed down, but if the soil below the 
bulb becomes packed, the bulbs will be forced 
from the soil as the roots work downward. 

" The Easter lily and its varieties should be 
bought as early as possible, so they can have time 
to make a good root growth in the cellar before 
the forcing season begins. 

" Tulips are so glorious in their display, that 
they are required in all winter gardens. The 
great danger with tulips lies in bringing the bulbs 
too soon from the cellar. Allow ten or twelve 
weeks for the formation of tulip roots. Water 
only occasionally. 

" Before bringing them into the light, turn the 
earth out into the hand to be sure there is a vigor- 
ous root growth. 

" The Dutch hyacinths are popular and beauti- 
ful; the Paper White narcissus and the Polyan- 
thus are the easiest to grow. 

" In potting geraniums, allow new pots to stand 
an hour in hot water, before using them. Place 
a few pieces of broken flower pot in the bottom, 
using a concave piece to cover the hole. 



140 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

" Replant from time to time. Keep the soil 
barely moist; do not place the geraniums too 
close to the windows as on cold nights they be- 
come chilled and often die. 

" Beware of the poisonous effect of coal and 
illuminating gas. 

"Watch the geraniums for insect pests; plant 
lice are easily killed by fumigating with tobacco 
smoke." 



SELLING SEEDS AND BULBS 

" I am a returned missionary with an invalid 
husband and daughter. At times we have seri- 
ously needed pin-money. 

" One way in which this money has been earned 
is as follows: 

" Every person who possessed even a very 
small garden in town was called upon and their 
orders for seeds, bulbs, and shrubs solicited. I 
would show them the catalogue and premiums 
offered and I was treated in the most kindly 
manner by every one I called upon. 

" One seed house had offered a ' special prize ' of 
$50. besides the regular commission on orders, to 
the woman sending in the largest order for seeds 
in a given time. I was fortunate enough to win 
this prize." 



RAISING FLOWERS 141 

RECLAIMING A NEGLECTED FARM 

" Seven years ago I decided to live on one of 
my father's farms, which was proving an un- 
profitable investment. The land was in poor 
condition. Ten acres of apple orchard were in a 
wild, neglected state, trees not pruned, sprayed, 
nor cared for in any way. 

" One acre had been devoted to blackberries; 
one to grapes and peaches; one acre was planted 
with strawberries and one in raspberries; but 
as the place had been unoccupied for a long time, 
it had become an indescribable wilderness. My 
idea was to bring order out of chaos. 

" At the present writing the rent from the pas- 
ture pays the taxes and cost of repairs. The 
garden, one hundred hens and a cow pay the 
grocery and meat bill. 

" The orchard and berries keep me through 
the winter. I usually go south or spend three 
months during the winter in the city." 

RAISING CHESTNUTS 

In the Irish Valley, seven miles from Shamokin, 
Pa., Mr. C. K. Sober has several hundred acres 
of grafted chestnuts. Many of the first trees 
grafted became so heavy with the weight of leaves 
and burs that they broke down at the grafting 
point. 



142 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

These chestnut groves are proving more profit- 
able than wheat or truck patches of the same area. 
Several car loads of these nuts are bagged and 
shipped away every fall. 

HICKORY NUTS 

In the mountains of Virginia a poor, uneducated 
boy has earned a nice little sum every fall by ship- 
ping hickory nuts and popcorn to the New York 
markets. The nuts are gathered in the woods 
and shipped in bags. The popcorn is different 
from any ordinary corn. 

When it is popped, every piece is enormous, and 
of a yellowish white color, and free from any 
hard kernels. A gentleman who was traveling 
through the mountains for his health met this 
boy's father. On learning of his struggle for a 
livelihood, he suggested that the nuts be gath- 
ered, and both nuts and corn shipped to New 
York. 

ORANGES, TANGERINES, ETC. 
From Florida every year, come many boxes of 
sweet oranges, tangerines, kumquats, and limes. 
These are raised and shipped to a New York com- 
mission house by a woman whose yearly income 
from the sale of these fruits is considerable. 



CHAPTER VI 

RAISING STOCK AND BREEDING PETS 

People who are fond of animals and have the 
proper quarters for them will find the way open 
to earn not only pin-money but often a good- 
sized and steady income. The following accounts 
of successes may inspire others to try similar 
experiments. 

A CATTLE QUEEN 
(By Ivah Dunklee) 

When a woman with fifteen children and only 
a washtub as a means of support makes a quar- 
ter of a million dollars it is interesting. 

In answer to the question, " How did you man- 
age to do it? " Aunt Jane Applebee, of Tulsa, 
Okla., said, " I had to; I couldn't let the children 
starve." 

To-day Aunt Jane is accredited with being the 
richest member of the Osage Indian Nation in 



144 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Oklahoma, which is the wealthiest nation, per 
capita, in the world. The story of her life is one 
of thrift and eternal vigilance that led to success. 

" When my first husband, August Captain, 
an interpreter known in Washington, D. C, 
died," she said, " he left us with very little to 
start business with. Even the quilts were worn 
out; and there I was out of the world — in the 
Indian Territory. 

" First I took in washing, but I couldn't get 
ahead that way. Then I came to the conclusion 
that as long as the world existed people must eat, 
and I decided I would help supply the world with 
food. So I determined to raise cattle*. 

" I washed and sewed until I had money 
enough to buy a cow, and that cow and her calf 
were the beginning of my herd. 

" Every spring Texas cattlemen shipped thou- 
sands of cattle into the Territory. Sometimes a 
cow died, and if very young her calf died. The 
cattlemen told me that I could have all the moth- 
erless calves, or mavericks, as they are called, 
and I spent days in the saddle roaming around 
over the range looking for the motherless calves." 

Never was the cattle industry attended to more 
faithfully. In all kinds of weather this tall, gaunt 
woman looked after her business. Nothing daunted 
her. One day a freshet, suddenly raising a stream, 



RAISING STOCK 145 

divided a cow from her calf, and the foolish cow 
was calling her calf to come to her. Into the rush- 
ing waters the intrepid woman plunged, and safely 
brought the calf across in her arms. " There 
wasn't any other way/' she said; " I couldn't 
afford to lose that calf." 

In a few years Aunt Jane had a wide reputa- 
tion for honesty and industry in the business 
world. 

There came a time when she had between two 
and three thousand head of cattle in the ranges, 
and she shipped them to the great centers — Kan- 
sas City, St. Louis, and other points — at the rate 
of ten thousand dollars' worth each year. From 
the time she began purchasing cattle in ten- 
thousand-dollar bunches she became known as the 
Cattle Queen. 

Several times she herself went to St. Louis 
with shipments of pedigreed pigs and hogs, and 
sold them as advantageously as any cattleman. 

In addition to the cares of her own large family 
of children, this big-hearted woman has taken 
into her home several orphan children belonging 
to her husband's people. About fourteen years 
ago she adopted a baby girl from a St. Louis 
orphan asylum, and is giving this foundling op- 
portunities in education and the fine arts that 
she herself never had. 



146 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

When a Cattle Queen, she married a Texas 
cattleman, Luther Applebee. Seven years ago 
she gave up cattle raising and moved to Tulsa. 
For four hundred dollars she purchased land that 
is to-day worth seventy-five thousand. Her home, 
occupying a valuable block, is set amid blossom- 
ing trees, shrubs, and flowers that she herself has 
set out. Flowers are her only luxury. 

Aunt Jane went to school but very little, yet 
she has a good collection of business and law books 
and is familiar with their contents. Often a group 
of blanketed Indians are seen on her piazza, for 
frequently she acts as their interpreter, and her 
judgment is sought. 

Though not an Osage by birth, she has been 
brought up by them from infancy, married one of 
their tribe, and spent all but the last seven years 
of her life among them. 

Now, at the age of eighty-two, she enjoys the 
reputation of being the richest member of the 
Osage nation, and as a seer and a prophet she is 
honored by the Osages. 

" When I hear people say that they can't do 
anything because they have had no education 
and never had a chance I wonder what they 
would have done in my place," says Aunt Jane; 
" and I didn't begin the hand-to-hand battle of 
life until after I was fifty years of age." 



RAISING STOCK 147 

DAIRY FARMING 

To be a success at dairy farming, one should be 
fond of animals, and possess good judgment in the 
selection, care, and breeding of cattle. A success- 
ful dairy farm is, as a rule, good for general farm- 
ing; the farm should be accessible to either rail- 
roads or markets. 

" My dairy herd is small, one-half of the cattle 
being Holsteins, the other half Jerseys; the former 
being purchased for the quantity of milk given, 
and the latter for the high quality. 

" I believe that close confinement, impure air, 
and lack of exercise, will act as disastrously upon 
a cow, as upon a human being. It is the best 
plan to have one-half the herd fresh in the fall, 
the other half fresh in the spring. In pur- 
chasing cattle, I prefer those having the long 
straight back, very thin tail, large milk veins and 
udder, and from two to three years old. 

" The owner of the dairy herd should be careful 
as to whom he hires to handle and care for his 
stock. The attendant should be gentle, even 
tempered, and above all, cleanly in his habits. 
Tobacco should never be used in any department 
of dairying. All work should be done system- 
atically and with the greatest regularity. The 
Holsteins when fresh, are milked three times daily. 

" With cows, as with people, a variety of foods 



148 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

are necessary to keep the digestive system un- 
impaired. If a cow is kept on too limited a variety, 
there will be a tendency to refuse certain neces- 
sary foods. When the daily quantity of milk 
grows less, change the feeding at once, giving a 
wider variety of food. A fresh cow should drink 
from eight to ten gallons of water daily. 

" Through the east, milk from the dairy which 
is absolutely sanitary in every respect, sells for 
ten cents a quart or more." 

POULTRY 

" A year ago I purchased thirty-five mongrel 
chicks from a farmer at ten cents each; seven- 
teen of these proved to be pullets. 

" An old box which I found in the barn was 
used as a brooder. No artificial heat was needed 
as the weather was warm. At night the little chicks 
went to bed under this box, which was about ten 
inches high and two feet deep. A board was 
placed in front of the box at night to keep out the 
night air, rats, or cats. 

" Small holes were made in the top of the box 
for ventilation, and as it stood under a woodshed, 
it was protected from the rain. 

" During the day the chickens were confined in 
a covered run six feet wide by twelve long, the 
run being moved to fresh ground twice a week. 



RAISING STOCK 149 

" The chickens were fed on dry wheat bran, 
fine chick food, and chopped clover; sweet milk 
and clean water were before them at all times. 
The bran was devoured ravenously and served to 
keep the chicks in splendid condition. As they 
grew older they were fed cracked corn — whole 
wheat, and dry bran being kept in a box before 
them all the time. The chicks were now allowed 
free range every fine day, after all dampness had 
dried from the grass. A peck of potatoes was 
boiled and fed to the hens morning and night. 

" The results were, my seventeen mongrel 
pullets laid over twelve hundred eggs in five 
months, beginning to lay in January, when fresh 
eggs were selling for fifty cents a dozen. 

" There is a splendid income assured any 
woman who raises poultry, if she will observe the 
following rules : 

" I. Whenever possible set the eggs under hens 
of a restless disposition, in some quiet, out-of-the- 
way place, as near the ground as possible. 

" The hens who bring out the biggest hatch 
are those having a nervous temperament. The 
quiet hen is sometimes the poorest hatcher; this 
hen must be lifted daily from the nest, and the 
eggs moved about with the hand. 

" 2, For the first few days feed the newly 
hatched chicks dried bread crumbs, hard-boiled 



150 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

eggs, chopped fine, oatmeal flakes, and a little 
Baby Chick Food. 

" 3. Keep the chicks away from dampness and 
draughts. 

" 4. When very young allow them to exercise 
in a wire-covered run, thus avoiding loss by cats, 
rats, or other enemies. 

" 5. Keep dry wheat bran, fine chick food, 
sweet milk, and clean water before them. Sup- 
ply all the chopped clover you can conveniently 
gather, also give them a large sod daily, to en- 
courage their scratching; this exercise is essential 
to strong development. 

" 6. When the chicks are older, throw the 
cracked corn or wheat into deep litter, such as 
leaves or straw, thus making them work for a 
meal. 

" Keep the dry bran, charcoal, and broken 
oyster shells within reach. During the winter 
a cabbage can be suspended in the chicken house 
about a foot from the floor. The hens will be 
kept busy jumping for this green food. This 
constant exercise is essential to good health and 
strong development. 

" If you are planning to raise poultry for the 
purpose of having eggs to sell during the late 
fall and winter, the chickens should be hatched 
in March or April at the latest. 



RAISING STOCK 151 

" For egg purposes, I recommend the rose- 
combed Leghorns. These hens produce their great 
tally of eggs on about one-half the quantity of 
food consumed by the heavier breeds. 

" If you wish to raise young broilers or roasters 
for market, it is best to raise the Plymouth Rocks, 
Wyandottes, or Rhode Island Reds." 

CHICKS 

" There is money to be made by selling day- 
old chicks. I purchased a second-hand 240 egg 
incubator and in February this is filled with eggs. 
As soon as the eggs hatch, the incubator is re- 
filled and the hatching is continued until June. 
About sixty-five per cent, of the eggs are fertile 
and the chicks are sold for ten cents each when a 
day old, or twenty cents each when a month old." 

CAPONS 

" By caponizing my surplus cockerels they grow 
much larger and fatter and weigh considerably 
more than the cockerels of the same age. Prices 
paid for capons in the New York and Boston 
markets are higher than for roasting chickens." 

MILCH GOATS 
" The possibilities of the milch goat industry 
in this country, for which the Department of 



152 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Agriculture entertains such high hopes, are suffer- 
ing from lack of development because nobody 
has had the enterprise to go into the business 
of importing such goats on a large scale. 

" Milch goats may be purchased in Switzer- 
land at moderate prices. No other animal gives 
so large a quantity of milk in proportion to its 
weight, the yield of a good doe being four or five 
quarts a day. Goat's milk is richer, more nutri- 
tious, and more digestible than cow's milk, and 
does not harbor the deadly tuberculosis germ. 
Hospitals and nurseries would pay a good price for 
goat's milk. 

" The goat skins are valuable for gloves and 
shoes." 

SQUAB RAISING 

The best variety of pigeons to keep for squab 
raising are the straight Homers, or the cross 
between the Homer and the Dragoon. Only 
mated pairs should be allowed in the breeding 
pen, as the lone male will drive all other birds 
from their nests and the eggs will be chilled, if 
not broken. 

Pigeons should be fed twice daily on cracked 
corn, Kaffir corn, rice, millet, hemp, and peas. 
Plenty of clean, fresh water should be given the 
birds early in the morning before feeding. Dur- 
ing the summer the birds should bathe daily. 



RAISING STOCK 153 

Four hundred pairs of pigeons should produce 
over four thousand squabs during the year. 

ANGORA GOATS 

" Angora goats are now classed among the 
most useful of the domestic animals. Their 
fleece, called ' mohair,' furnishes some of the 
finest of fabrics, and it is also used extensively 
in the manufacture of plushes; their habit of 
browsing assists the farmer in a wooded locality 
in clearing the land. 

" Their flesh is exceedingly delicate and nu- 
tritious, their milk, though not so abundant 
as with the milch breeds of goats, is richer than 
cow's milk; their skins are used for leather. 

" The pelts make the neatest of rugs and 
robes; a few of them in a flock of sheep are a 
protection from dogs. Their manure is noticeably 
helpful to the grass which follows them after 
they have cleared away the underbrush. 

" Goats are raised instead of sheep in some 
places, because they are inexpensive as far as 
feeding is concerned. They eat leaves in winter 
and the soft twigs in summer, and if there is an 
abundance of either, they will not require any- 
thing else to sustain life. However, they are fond 
of straw and fodder of any kind. In the absence 
of browse, the goat should be given some grain. 



154 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Probably the best feed is oats, but in Texas some 
of the larger goat raisers feed them cotton seed. 
Cow pea, clover and alfalfa hay are all most ex- 
cellent coarse feeds, and no grain is necessary 
with feed of this kind to carry the goats through 
the winter." — Farmers' Bulletin 137. 

TURKEYS 

" There is hardly any kind of live-stock that 
will return so large a profit to the successful 
producer as will poultry, and no kind of poultry 
is more profitable than turkeys, when properly 
handled. 

" Turkeys hatched early in the spring, should 
grow to weigh from fourteen to twenty pounds 
by Thanksgiving. 

" In the west and southwest, under ordinarily 
good conditions, turkeys can be grown and sold 
at eight to eight and one-half cents a pound live 
weight, and return a profit to the growers. 

" There is an opportunity for persons living 
near towns and villages to dress and sell their 
turkeys direct to private customers, at the local 
retail prices which vary in the east, from twenty 
cents to thirty cents a pound. 

" The Bronze turkey should be the largest in 
size, most vigorous in constitution, and the most 
profitable to grow." — Farmers' Bulletin 200. 



RAISING STOCK 155 

GEESE 

" The White Embdem geese are in favor with 
the farmers, as they are large, with pure white 
plumage, and pay well for their keeping. 

" The adult gander will weigh about twenty 
pounds and the adult goose eighteen pounds, 
the young gander about eighteen pounds, and the 
young goose about sixteen pounds. 

" Many raisers consider the gray African geese 
the most profitable to keep, as they grow the 
heaviest in the shortest space of time, being ready 
for market in ten weeks, when they will weigh 
from eight to ten pounds. 

" The care and attention necessary for raising 
geese are very small when compared with the 
returns, and the cost of food is also proportion- 
ately small in comparison with the cost of food 
used for other birds bred for market. A goose 
on range will gather the largest portion of its 
food, consisting of grasses, insects, and other 
animal and vegetable matter to be found in the 
fields and brooks. The simplest kinds of houses 
are used for shelter. 

" Geese are long-lived birds, some having been 
known to attain the age of forty years. They 
retain their laying and hatching qualities through 
life. Ganders should not be kept for breeding, 
however, after three years of age, as young gan- 



156 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

ders are more active, and insure greater fertility. 
They also become quarrelsome as age advances. 

" The feathers of geese are an important 
source of revenue, and find a ready sale in the 
markets. A goose will average about one pound 
of feathers a year. If goose raising is to be ex- 
tensively engaged in, the African goose is especially 
recommended. It is the quickest to mature, most 
prolific, and the easiest to handle of all varieties." 
— Bulletin 64, United States Department of Agri- 
culture. 

PIGS 

" I am a woman on the shady side of thirty 
and I am supporting myself by raising pigs. 

" My pigs are raised on grass, corn, acorns, 
bran, and the clean waste food from a large 
hotel in my town. This waste is collected 
daily during the winter, and twice a day during 
the warm weather, before it has had time to 
sour. 

" I have made it a point to buy Berkshire sows 
and have bred them to a registered boar. 

" For sleeping-quarters, I have found that 
nothing equals the little individual houses eight 
feet square, that will accommodate a sow and her 
litter. 

" A woven wire fence surrounds these houses. 



RAISING STOCK 157 

Each house is in a fenced-off lot about a half- 
acre in size, thus keeping each litter separate. 

" When large numbers are allowed to sleep 
and eat together, the larger and stronger will 
crowd out the weaker. 

" My hogs bring top prices, and I am inclined 
to think that hogs pay a better profit, considering 
the amount of food consumed, than any other 
class of live stock." 

RAISING DUCKS FOR PROFIT 

" Out of the twelve standard varieties of 
ducks raised in this country, I prefer the ' White 
Pekin.' 

" The flesh of the ten weeks old duckling is 
very tender, and of a fine flavor, being free from 
grossness. 

" The Pekins are hardy, non-sitters, and of 
good weight. 

" The mature drake weighs about eight pounds; 
the duck seven; the ducklings should weigh 
from four and one-half to five pounds. The 
season for breeding ducks is from February to 

July. 

" It has been figured that the cost of raising 
a five-pound duckling is about fifty cents; the 
selling price varies from fifteen cents to twenty 
cents a pound, according to the way in which 



158 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

the ducks are sold, direct to consumer or to the 
trade." 

DUCKS 

" Duck-raising has developed within the last 
twenty years into a flourishing industry, and is 
to be recommended to farmers as a profitable 
source of revenue. 

" There are a number of farms in this country 
to-day that are devoted exclusively to raising 
ducks, averaging from 5000 to 30,000 ducks as 
an annual output; as high as three tons of feed are 
used daily by a single raiser during the busy 
season. 

" A duck plant should be located on a line of 
railroad, in direct communication with the city 
markets. 

" Of all the ducks for the farm and practical 
purposes, none stands higher in popular esteem 
than the White Pekin. 

" These are valuable for raising on a large scale, 
and are the most easily raised of all. Their 
flesh is very delicate and free from grossness, 
and they are excellent layers, averaging from 100 
to 150 eggs each in a season. 

" The ducklings should be marketed when ten 
weeks old; it costs from six cents to twelve cents 
a pound to raise a duck for market at ten weeks 



RAISING STOCK 159 

of age." — Bulletin 64, United States Department 
of Agriculture. 

GUINEA FOWLS 
" A year ago I was presented with a trio of 
Guinea fowls. From this trio I have raised 
twenty-eight birds. Several times I could have 
disposed of them at $1.00 each, but as they will 
begin to lay next month (April) I think I can 
earn a nice little sum by holding my stock for 
another six months." 

SHEEP RAISING 

In Virginia a woman is clearing over $500 
annually by raising sheep. She started with a 
capital of $25.00 and bought sheep and lambs 
for $3.00 a head. 

HONEY BEES 

What do you think of raising honey bees on 
the roofs of city houses? 

This has been done in several of our largest 
cities. 

A gentleman in Illinois says that he has taken 
" four hundred pounds of honey from five hives 
the first season, and at the end of four years 
the honey yield was over three thousand pounds 
from eight hives." 



160 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

This gentleman is a cripple and handicapped 
in his work; but he says he could personally 
attend to a hundred colonies, clearing from #500 
to $1000 a season. 

DEER FARMING 

" The members of the deer family rank next 
to the cattle and sheep family in general utility, 
and are the most important of the big game 
animals of America. The flesh of the deer is 
a staple article of diet, venison being a favorite 
with epicures, and is widely substituted for beef 
and mutton. 

" The raising of deer for profit does not neces- 
sarily imply their complete domestication. They 
may be kept in large preserves with surroundings 
as nearly natural as possible; the breeder may thus 
reap nearly all the profit that would be expected 
from a domestic herd, while the animals escape 
most of the dangers incident to close captivity. 

" The domestication of deer and elk offers an 
interesting field for experiment as well as re- 
munerative returns for the investment of capital. 

" The wapiti and the Virginia deer can be raised 
successfully and cheaply under many different 
conditions of food and climate. The production 
of venison and the rearing of both species for 
stocking parks may be made profitable industries 



RAISING STOCK 161 

in the United States." — Farmers' Bulletin 330, 
United States Department of Agriculture. 

FOX RANCHES 

Bolton Hall, in his valuable book entitled 
A Little Land and a Living, tells of two successful 
fox ranches in Dover, Maine, where from twenty 
to forty silver foxes are raised each year on less 
than an acre of ground. 

Mr. Hall says: "These animals are not ex- 
pensive to breed, as their food is chiefly sour milk 
and corn meal, or flour made into a loaf, with a 
little meat once a week. They are clean animals, 
and with careful attention are free from disease. 
Fine silver fox furs are worth #150 a pelt." 

RAISING DOGS 

" One can always sell, at some price, puppies 
from pedigreed stock. It has been stated that: 
' One cannot get into the rank of successful 
breeders, until he has won his way there by bench 
show winnings.' 

" The writer has proven this statement to be 
without any foundation whatsoever. One cannot 
win the ' blue ' at any of the large shows, unless 
one is fortunate enough to own the dog whose 
every point happens to appeal to the man judg- 
ing that class, at that time. Rarely does the same 



162 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

dog impress two judges in the same manner. 
Oftentimes a beautiful dog is ' shown the gate ' 
by some judge, whereas this same dog would take 
the ' blue ' if shown before another judge. 

" The writer has never exhibited a dog but once. 
This dog took only the third prize, but I was 
offered #300 for her within a month. 

" My kennels have netted me over #1000 a 
year. No money has been spent on costly kennels. 
My little Pekinese matrons have the run of the 
house. 

" A valuable English Bull male is on a long 
leash in the summer kitchen. 

" The English Bull matrons have separate 
quarters in the stable, each occupying a horse 
stall. 

" My Cocker Spaniel male sleeps in the stable- 
yard, and the Cocker Spaniel matrons are with 
him. 

" Each matron averages two litters in a year 
and a half. The English Bull puppies sell for 
$35 to #125 each, according to their good points. 
The Pekinese puppies never sell for less than 
$100 each, and we can never meet the demand 
at that price. 

" The Cocker Spaniel males bring from #25 
to #50 each; the females #10 to #15 each; and 
we are always sold out. 



RAISING STOCK 163 

" If one has first class pedigreed stock, and 
advertises the puppies in Country Life in America 
and the Outing Magazine, it will not be long 
before they are disposed of. 

" Regarding the feeding of my dogs, I would 
say that I only allow my grown stock one hearty 
meal a day. When the matrons are in whelp 
they should be given all the nourishing food 
possible, especially plenty of raw meat once a 
day, which has been put through a grinder. 

" Young puppies must be well nourished, being 
fed a thick soup, containing well-cooked, cheap 
vegetables, cereals, and a little raw meat. 

: ' The great danger in raising dogs is careless- 
ness about worms, which kill nine dogs out of ten. 
I have made it a point to give dry sulphur liberally 
stirred into the food, twice a week, to grown dogs 
as well as to puppies. All puppies should be 
carefully and thoroughly wormed once a month. 

" Broken rice can be purchased in hundred 
pound bags for three and one-half to four cents 
a pound. 

" Lambs' hazlets, well-cooked, and put through 
a grinder, can be stirred into a gallon pot of well- 
cooked rice, which has been well salted. 

" I give this to my dogs three times a week. 
In seven years I have lost but four puppies 
through illness." 



164 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

PERSIAN CATS 

" I was fortunate in securing my first pin- 
money kitten, which was a pure white female, for 
#8.00. The females usually cost more, and the 
white males cost anywhere from #35 up. 

" After mating my queen, there were nine 
weeks to wait for the kittens. I fed my female 
well, giving her raw meat and soup daily. I was 
rewarded with a litter of five beautiful kittens, 
three pure white, one buff and one tiger. When 
the kittens were two months old, three were sold 
for a trifle less than $60. 

" When the kittens were four weeks old, I 
fed them warm gruel; later on, ground beef, fish, 
cooked vegetables, etc. Powdered sulphur was 
stirred into the food twice a week. 

" If you feed your kittens only bread and milk, 
worms develop quickly, and the result is that 
your kittens will have fits and die. 

" Olive oil must be constantly on hand if one 
is raising kittens. Olive oil will cure ear canker; 
carry off the hair balls which form in the 
throat; relieve constipation; cure a cold; and, 
mixed with sulphur, to form a paste, will cure 
eczema. 

" Keep the kittens' coats well brushed daily, 
thus preventing the hair balls from forming in 
the stomach." 



RAISING STOCK 165 

CANARY BIRDS 

" A few years ago I conceived the idea of 
earning a little pin-money by breeding canary 
birds. I secured a low-priced wire and wood cage, 
and a pair of German Rollers. 

" This outfit cost less than $8.00. I read every- 
thing I came across in regard to birds and bird 
raising. I took an unused up-stairs room for my 
birds; the breeding cages were hung against the 
wall. Two wire nests were put into the cage; 
a dish for bathing, and bird seed completed the 
outfit. 

" The young birds come out thirteen days 
after the last egg is laid. The first thing to feed 
the birdlings is Zwieback, rolled fine, and hard- 
boiled eggs. Also use scalded rape seed. Feed 
the young birds on this mixture for three weeks. 
The birds are then given the best Spanish canary 
seeds and rape seeds, but no hemp. In case the 
birdlings have not the strength to free themselves 
from the shell on the thirteenth day, have some 
water heated to 90 degrees, take the eggs care- 
fully from the nest and put them into the 
water. 

" If the little bird in the shell is alive, the eggs 
will float rapidly about on the surface of the 
water. But if the birds are dead the eggs will 
sink. With your fingers gently submerge the live 



166 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

eggs under the water and keep them there three 
minutes. Then put them back into the nest. 
The hot water softens the shell of the egg, and 
enables the little birds within to open it with 
their bills. The only risk is that the mother 
bird will leave the nest after the eggs have been 
handled. One person and one alone should at- 
tend a canary when she is setting. 

" The male birds sell for $3.00 to #5.00 each; 
the females for #1.00 each." 

SINGING CANARIES 

" A few years ago, thinking I would like a little 
more pin-money, I conceived the idea of raising 
canary birds. I had one good singer and sent to 
an Iowa firm who make a specialty of imported 
birds and got one more singer and two females, 
all Hartz Mountain birds. The first season I 
raised nineteen birds, nine singers, ten females. 
Eight singers I sold for three dollars each, nine 
females for one dollar each, keeping one pair 
to raise from the next year. 

" Last year I had seven pairs of birds. As 
the weather was very warm I only allowed them 
to raise two settings each. I raised forty-nine 
birds from these two settings of the seven pairs 
of birds, the majority of which were singers. 
Some of these I sold for five dollars and none for 



RAISING STOCK 167 

less than three. The female birds were all sold 
for one dollar each. 

" My friends call it my ' luck.' Luck has noth- 
ing to do with it. I went into the business of 
raising birds in earnest. I bought good stock to 
begin with. I read everything I came across in 
regard to birds and bird raising, and I learned 
considerable from the birds themselves. This 
year I will have to start with new stock — my last 
pair of birds being sold to a crippled boy who was 
much interested in the business last year. I 
would advise women who need a little extra money 
to try it, as it is most interesting from start to 
finish. It does not require much money to start 
with, but it does require common sense and pa- 
tience. I had a room up-stairs that was not being 
used. I removed the furniture, put my cages 
in this room, and allowed no one to clean them 
but myself. No one went in the room unless I 
was with them. I attribute my success in a great 
measure to not having the birds disturbed dur- 
ing the setting period. " E. H. C. 



CHAPTER VII 

ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 

RUG-MAKING AS A HOME INDUSTRY 

" How can I utilize the contents of my rag- 
bag?" is a question frequently asked, and any 
suggestions as to the solving of this problem are 
eagerly sought after. Old pieces of linen, that 
have become worn and soft with age, can always 
be utilized by being torn into strips and sewn to- 
gether, and sent to the weaver to be woven up 
for bath mats and rag carpeting; but this is not 
the point at issue, as we want to know how we 
can use the rags ourselves without the aid of a 
weaver or a loom. 

The joy of making a rag carpet is a real one. 
Try it and see how fascinated you will get when 
you find the work shaping itself under your hands. 
The pride of the Oriental rug-maker will be yours, 
only, lacking Oriental patience, you will rejoice 
in the rapidity with which the work nears com- 
pletion. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 169 

But remember that your color-scheme must 
be carefully thought out; it would be a pity to 
neglect the infinite opportunity for harmony, 
and the dye-pot is a faithful friend in bringing 
beauty out of a hodge-podge of miscellaneous 
odds and ends. 

Flannel rags can be collected and dyed either 
blue, pink, or green, or, preferably, half the rags 
dyed one color, and the other half dyed in the 
same dye after it has been diluted with water, 
to make a paler tint; in this way a two-tone 
effect will be given. 

AN ORIGINAL HOMEMADE RUG 

Having collected about twenty-five pounds 
of flannel rags and having dyed them the de- 
sired shades, they must now be torn into strips 
about one inch wide, and these must be neatly 
sewn together, overlapping about half an inch, 
so that the joining is strong. Now procure a 
length of clothes-line rope, and commence to 
crochet the flannel strips over the rope. This 
is begun in the center, like any crochet wheel for 
a chair-back. A large wooden crochet hook may 
be obtained from a needlework shop. The stitch 
of double crochet is used to cover the rope with 
the crochet flannel. As you go along, the cro- 
chet is inserted into the previous row, so that 



170 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

the circle grows with every pull of the needle. 
In using two colors, the paler shade could be 
used until the circle is about a foot across. Then 
use the darker shade until you have gone five 
times around the rug. Return again to the paler 
color, repeating the alternate colors until the 
flannel is all used up, or the rug is the desired size, 
leaving the darker shade at the edge of the rug. 

These are economical to make, are very 
quickly done, and are among the most dur- 
able of any of the homemade rugs, as the 
rope makes a hard, strong surface before it is 
covered with the flannel. I have had one for 
years in my hall, and as yet it shows no signs of 
wear, and is good for another fifteen years. 

It is not always easy to amass enough flannel 
rags to go into this kind of rug-making, but all 
kinds of things can be utilized for this purpose. 
Old chenille curtains which are not entirely worn 
out can be pulled apart and wound into balls. 
This material can be crocheted round the rug, and 
makes an excellent substitute for the flannel, and 
is even more quickly done. Old ingrain carpets 
can also be torn apart, and after having been 
thoroughly cleansed, can be utilized in the same 
way as the chenille, a dye bath being resorted to 
if the colors are not what are wanted. 

In every large town there are dealers who 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 171 

provide wefts and warps for weavers, and many 
of the wefts or fillings could be utilized for cro- 
cheting round the rugs. Sometimes they are 
made in many colors, other times they come in 
strong solid colors. Any of these can be used to 
crochet round the rope, as they can be bought for 
from five to twenty cents a pound, and a good- 
sized rug can be made for an outlay of from 
fifty cents to a dollar. 

Some beautiful rugs that were sent to an ex- 
hibition not long ago were made from new cotton 
flannel. This can be bought for twelve and a 
half cents a yard, and comes in old rose, blue, and 
green. Five yards of this material will make a 
rug a yard across, and most artistic effects can 
be obtained by using new material. The shade of 
old rose harmonizes beautifully with some of the 
modern wall papers. 

The idea of covering the rope is my own, 
so that to my knowledge these rugs are not 
on the market, with the exception of the rugs 
referred to. There is no reason why this should 
not become a profitable industry, and as a rug 
could be made in a day, and will sell for #3.50, 
there should be at least from $1.00 to $1.50 profit, 
if you count your time as costing you $1.25 a 
day. Counting your time as profit, the sum made 
on each rug will be #2.50, and would be a charm- 



172 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

ing and profitable industry for any woman, as 
the work is very pleasant to do. It is especially 
suited to the aged, as there is no strain upon the 
eyes. Five yards of flannel cut into strips an 
inch wide will make a rug a yard across, or an 
oval one a yard and a half in length. 

Then there is the fine old braided rug — the 
kind seen in nearly every New England home. 
Is there anything that lends to a room such an 
atmosphere of thrift and comfort and " hominess " 
as the braided rug? And still, they tell me, there 
are some parts of the country where the simple 
art is practically unknown. 

Brilliant contrasts in these rugs are sometimes 
effective, if skill is used in arranging them, but 
for every-day wear the monotone is advised. The 
prettiest ones I have seen have had about three 
or four shades of one color, with perhaps black 
introduced as a contrast. Home-dyeing some- 
times comes out very uneven, but instead of 
detracting from the work, it adds to the beauty 
of the finished rug, as it produces a somewhat 
cloudy appearance, which makes it of interest. 
Some people add a piece of black cloth, pinked 
out at the edges, to the rug when it is finished, to 
make it lap the floor. 

Many rugs are improved by a strip of black 
appearing in the plait with two paler ones. This 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 173 

is especially attractive when it happens to be 
black velveteen. 

Now as to the actual making of the rugs. 
Directions are almost superfluous, the process 
is so simple. 

A little practice is necessary to find out what 
width the rags should be torn. A piece of old 
white muslin might have to be torn an inch and 
a half in width, while a strong piece of denim 
would only need to be half that width. The point 
is that the plait when finished must be of equal 
thickness, and this is only learned by experience. 
The rags may be torn and plaited quickly, but 
the strips should be turned in while the rug is 
being plaited to insure perfectly smooth and 
finished work. 

Most people do them in the rough-and-ready 
way, as they will not spend the time on the more 
finished article. It is best to sew the plaits together 
as you go along, and they should be tightly seamed 
on the wrong side with very small stitches. Four or 
five yards of strips can be plaited at once, pro- 
viding one of the strips is quite short, as this pre- 
vents them from getting tangled up, which always 
happens if three long strips are plaited at once. 
Many people join the strips together as they go 
along, as they find it easier to work with if they 
are not longer than half a yard, but these points 



174 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

are all decided by individual workers, according 
to their fancy. 

One feature of these rugs that appeals em- 
phatically to the economical housewife is the 
opportunity they afford for using up otherwise 
worthless material. Old pieces of dress material, 
bits of ribbon, old scraps of fine swiss, or even 
denim or cotton flannel, can any or all of them be 
utilized in the same rug, as the greater the va- 
riety in texture the more attractive the rug be- 
comes. Care must be taken, however (as before 
hinted), not to mix too many colors, as they be- 
come a weariness to the eye if some restraint 
is not used in this direction. 

Another charming member of the family of 
homemade rugs is the woven rug made without 
a loom. This rug can be taken up at odd mo- 
ments. It is so easy to make that a child can do 
it; indeed, it is one of the first things that chil- 
dren are taught in the kindergarten — the paper 
weaving. Exactly the same principle is carried 
out in rug-weaving. 

All that is needed is a pastry board, some tacks, 
and some old or new rags cut into strips. These 
are used for both warp and weft. The warp con- 
sists of the lines that run up and down in the 
work; the weft is woven in and out across the 
warp. The material should be cut about an inch 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 175 

wide, and may be denim, muslin, or canton 
flannel. The rugs may have as many colors as 
desired, or can be two-toned; or a white warp 
with blue or green weft makes a very pretty rug. 
After ruling a straight line across the board 
about one inch from the top, the weaving can be 
started. 

If the rug is to be delft blue and white, the 
warp should be white and the weft blue. To 
make the rug the following directions must be 
followed: First, a strip more than twice as 
long as the final length of the rug is cut, be- 
ginning at the bottom. A tack is then driven in 
the strip a few inches above the bottom of the 
board. The strip is then laid smoothly on the 
surface, and when it reaches the pencil line at 
the top of the board, it is again held in place by 
a tack. A twist is then given and another tack 
is put in the material half an inch further on the 
line. Near the bottom of the board the second 
strip is held in place by tacking it, and the end 
left hanging. Another strip is taken, and the 
same process repeated until the board is covered 
with the warp strips. 

The next process is the actual weaving. An 
inch strip of blue is tacked a little below the line 
on the upper left-hand corner of the board, 
starting under the first strip of warp. It is then 



176 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

woven under and over just the same as darning 
a stocking. 

Keep the woof flat and smooth when it is 
woven, keeping it as close to the top as possi- 
ble. When this has been done for a distance of 
about six inches, take a white strip and weave 
an inch and a half to form a border, then two 
Inches of blue. Two or three bands of white as 
a border give the rug a more finished look. 

When as much of the rug is woven as lies 
between the two rows of tacks, remove them, 
and move up the woven part, and tack across 
again along the third row of weft from the bot- 
tom, placing a tack in each strip of warp, then 
draw the warp down and tack in place, as when the 
rug was started. The rug can be any length, 
but if made four, or four and a half feet, the pro- 
portion will be prettier than if it were six feet. 

The border at the end must be measured, 
so that it will come out an equal distance at the 
bottom as it did at the top. The loose warp 
ends may be cut off about two inches longer 
than the rug, and each end turned up and woven 
upward. The strips do not show when joined, 
but they must be overlapped and sewn firmly 
with cotton the same color as the strip. When all 
the ends are carefully turned under, the rug is 
complete. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 177 

With so many different ways of utilizing 
rags and left-overs, surely we need no longer 
be perplexed with how to use up old materials, 
and we shall have found not only a means of 
adding to our homes useful and beautiful rugs, 
which can be glorified according to our resources 
and individual taste, but another way of obtain- 
ing pin-money by their sale. 

RUGS FOR SALE 

" Now that there is such a demand for anything 
old-fashioned, I thought of the plan of making 
rag rugs for sale, and it was a paying ' thought/ 
for I now have more orders than I can fill. I 
began by making just one kind of rug from old 
rags that I begged and borrowed. This was 
the old-fashioned braided rug; then I made a 
few of the woven rugs, all of which were sold at 
good prices. Now I have to buy new materials 
and have all rugs woven by an old half-breed 
Indian woman who lives near our village. I 
am now trying to find an old-fashioned hand 
loom which I hope to buy with money I have 
saved, thus keeping all my profits. 

" I have also made a few of the old-time 
1 pulled ' rugs, a trick I learned from an old Cana- 
dian servant we once had. 

" I buy cream-colored outing flannel by the 



178 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

bolt, thus getting the advantage of wholesale 
prices, and dye it myself with patent dyes. In 
this way I am able to fill orders for a rug of any 
color or combination of colors that a customer 
may wish. 

"During the long shut-in months of winter I 
make many, many rugs, and when summer comes 
I sell them to tourists and summer boarders, who 
are glad to take home souvenirs of such a practical 
nature. This is something that any girl can do, 
no matter how untrained.' 5 R. D. 

BAYBERRY CANDLES 

" My bayberry candles find a ready market in 
the east, at Christmas time. One quart of bay- 
berries are needed to make one candle, or one 
bushel of bayberries will yield seven pounds 
of wax. The berries are gathered in the early fall. 

" In making, I put three quarts of berries into 
a preserve kettle, and fill to the brim with cold 
water. This allows two quarts of water to one 
quart of berries. The water should boil steadily 
for four hours, then the kettle should be set back 
on the stove, and the berries should simmer for 
an hour or two; then move further back where 
they will only just keep hot. During the hard 
boiling, keep the kettle filled to the brim with 
hot water. The cooking down from the boiling 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 179 

point to the point where the wax begins to form, 
should be gradual, for the best results. 

" Remove the kettle from the range at night 
and set away to cool. In the morning the wax will 
have formed into a large cake. Take this out, 
re-melt, after breaking the cake into small pieces, 
and then strain through a fine wire strainer. 
Allow this to harden, after which it should be 
re-melted once more, and strained through coarse 
cheese-cloth. 

" Wrap a stout piece of paper tightly and evenly 
about a half candle and glue the edges. Paste a 
circular piece of paper over the bottom. Remove 
the candle and pour a little melted paraffin into 
the paper mold, quickly emptying it out again. 
This coating will prevent the paper from absorb- 
ing the bayberry wax. Notch the top edges of 
the mold, to hold a common hat pin in place. 
This pin should be run through a piece of candle 
wick; the wick should be secured on the bottom 
disk by a knot. To the melted bayberry wax, I 
add one-third paraffin. This is poured into the 
molds which can be held in place by standing 
them in circular holes cut in a paper box, or in 
a bed of sand. 

" Many prefer the dipped candles. In dipping, 
ordinary candle wicking is twisted around old- 
fashioned candle-rods. Dip the wicks in wax, 



180 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

set in water warm enough to melt the wax, but 
be careful that the water is not too hot, just 
barely warm enough to hold the wax liquid. 
Layers of wax will form about the wick from a 
half inch to two inches in thickness. 

" Candles made by repeated dippings are 
known as ' dips ' and are regarded as the most 
desirable form." 

CANDLE SHADES 

" Our local store is selling for me my home- 
made candle shades. These are made from silk, 
lace, cretonne, chintz, flowered wall-paper, and 
hand painted water-color paper. The Dennison 
Manufacturing Co. of Boston, will send you 
much in the way of free instructions regarding 
the making of paper novelties of all kinds. Many 
women are anxious to make these lovely little 
novelties but do not know where to buy materials 
or how to proceed in the work. The above con- 
cern will tell you how to make costumes for the- 
atricals also." 

Remember that home crocheting for a whole- 
sale dealer, never pays. The manufacturers 5 
" home work " is the worst form of industrial 
slavery against which two or three hours a day 
does not count even for pin-money. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 181 

DYEING WITH PAINTS 

" My method of acquiring the coveted extra 
dollar is by dyeing articles with oil paints and 
gasoline. 

" Get oil paint in the small tubes as near the 
desired shade as you can obtain. Add enough 
gasoline to cover the article, then add paint a 
drop at a time and stir until the desired shade 
is obtained. Dip the article and then place in 
the air to dry. In this way plumes, chiffon 
hats, laces, faded artificial flowers, gloves, hosiery, 
and almost any article may be dyed. Straw 
and wool braid hats, canvas and kid slippers 
may be dyed by applying dye with a tooth- 
brush. 

" Try coloring some article that isn't of much 
value and when you thoroughly understand the 
mixing of the dye, go to some good milliner, 
tell her you can do such work, and very likely 
she will have work for you. Also go to a good 
dressmaker. She can advise her patrons to come 
to you to have their gloves, lace to match the 
new gown, etc., dyed. 

" Considering that this plan requires no capi- 
tal to speak of and that it has proved successful, 
it only remains for you to give it a trial and be 
convinced that a neat sum may be realized." 

L. 



182 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

STENCILING 

" Strong and well myself, I realized that I 
ought to earn my own pin-money. 

" My talents were limited. I was only, as 
mother calls it, ' resourceful.' I had already 
' stenciled ' curtains for my own room, also 
several cushions; so I experimented until I 
found what dyes or paints were best on different 
materials. With a little patience and much use 
of tissue and carbon paper, sprays and scrolls 
may be copied from wall-paper and conventional 
designs on book-covers. 

" I made my stencils from heavy manila paper, 
cutting them out with sharp-pointed shears, 
and afterward rubbing off all roughness with a 
strip of sandpaper. Then I gave them a coat of 
paraffin on both sides. For most fabrics, tube 
paints thinned with one part Japan drier or two 
parts turpentine, were the most satisfactory 
colors. 

" I stenciled curtains of scrim, cheese-cloth, 
unbleached muslin, and pongee; draperies of 
silk and silkolene, and cushions of many fabrics. 

" I received ten cents a strip for bold designs 
on cotton curtains, and fifteen cents for my 
cushions with the least work, and the price 
increased with the intricacy of the pattern and 
quality of the goods." A. S. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 183 

STENCILING NO. 2 

" I have earned quite a little money stencil- 
ing curtains for summer cottages. Materials dec- 
orated in this manner keep their colors through 
repeated washings and are not easily faded by the 
summer sun. I have also done very beautiful 
and effective stamping with wood. I use a per- 
fectly smooth wooden block and trace the desired 
pattern on the flat side of this block. Then with 
very sharp tools, which come for this purpose, I 
carve out the design leaving it in relief. I have 
various colored pads, and use this wooden stamp 
as you would use a common rubber stamp. The 
carved block is pressed on to the stained pad, and 
then pressed evenly on to the material to be deco- 
rated. The result is all that can be desired and 
possibly easier to do than stenciling. My charge 
is $1.50 a pair for sash curtains, when materials 
are supplied, or $3.00 a pair up, for long curtains." 

LEAF PRINTS 

Leaf pictures, available for many decorative 
purposes, may be made by any girl who has a 
little patience. The pictures are printed directly 
from the underside of the leaf. A supply of the 
leaves should be obtained when they are plenti- 
ful and pressed between blotting-paper until 
they are flat and dry. The impressions are made 



184 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

with oil colors, or printer's ink thinned with a 
little benzine. The prints may be put on bristol 
board or water-color paper; a smooth, heavy 
paper is the best for this purpose. 

The process is as follows: Take a sheet of tin 
or glass, any smooth surface that will not absorb 
the oil, and squeeze some of the paint or ink upon 
it. If oil paints are used, the color may be thinned 
with linseed or poppy oil; if the ink is preferred, 
thin it with benzine, taking care that the bottle 
is corked after the fluid is poured off, as benzine 
is very inflammable. 

Lay the leaf on a sheet of newspaper; run over 
it a rubber roller, which has been evenly covered 
with the ink or the paint by running it over the 
coating spread on the glass or tin. If no roller 
is available, the paint or ink may be put on with a 
pad made by rolling a bit of cotton in cheese-cloth. 

Next take up the leaf by the stem and placing 
it, moistened side down, on the paper on which 
the print is to be, cover it with a piece of thin 
white pencil paper and, with a finger held over 
the center of the leaf to keep it from moving, rub 
all over it with the forefinger of the other hand; 
then remove the paper and the leaf. If the work 
has been carefully done, a perfect impression of 
the underside of the leaf will be left on the sheet 
of paper. Parts that are dim may be touched 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 185 



up with a fine camel's-hair brush. As leaf im- 
pressions may be applied to silk or smooth white 
wood, many fancy articles may be designed. 
Calendars, barometers, picture frames, etc., are 
some of the more obvious articles. 

Handsome accessories for the dinner or luncheon 
table may be created out of the colored leaf im- 
pressions, such as menu or place cards. Thick, 
smooth water-color paper is the best for this pur- 
pose, but it should not be so thick that the leaf 
cannot be cut out around the edges with a pair 
of sharp scissors. 

Calendars may be made in two ways: first, by 
pasting a calendar pad on the leaf print, which 
may be suspended by a ribbon, or if a desk calen- 
dar is desired it may have a support pasted to 
the back. The second way is to cut slits through 
the leaf print and paper, and run ribbon through 
three separate places; on the upper ribbon the 
months should be painted, the middle ribbon 
should contain the days of the week, and the lower 
ribbon the dates. These ribbons may be pulled 
back or forth as needed to change the dates. 

To make picture frames the leaf prints may be 
made on the water-color paper before mounting 
or directly on the frames. 

Red, brown, or yellow oil paints, matching the 
colors of the autumn foliage, may be adopted 



186 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

for this purpose in addition to leaf green. Letter- 
ing and a border for a menu may be applied with 
gold or silver paint. A ragged edge of the gold 
may be applied to the edge of the leaf to soften 
the cut part. 

DESIGNING AND STAMPING 

" My pin-money is earned by designing and 
stamping materials for embroidery at home. 

" I had notified all my friends of my work, 
and they have been kind enough to mention 
the fact to others and send me all orders pos- 
sible. 

" I carry a full line of silks, which I buy 
from the manufacturer, also perforated patterns, 
cottons, needles, etc. I am teaching embroidery 
in spare hours, having one class of seven young 
girls, who pay twenty-five cents a lesson." 

SCREENS 

" Folding screens are always decorative and 
useful in home decoration. Though an amateur, 
I have been very successful in this work. 

" One of my screens, which sold for a fair 
sum, had for its panels unbleached muslin. 
The designs were worked in green and blues. 
At the base of each panel was a conventionalized 
design of peacocks. The panels were lined with 
forest green silkoline. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 187 

" Sailcloth, burlap, linen, silk or wood are 
used for panels. One exceedingly pretty screen 
had for its lower panels plain burlap, while the 
upper panels were of plain wood stained a soft 
green and decorated with an iris design. These 
screens sell from $3.00 to #15.00 each." 

CHINA PAINTING 

At Asbury Park this summer a capable little 
woman made a goodly amount by conducting 
an art novelty booth in one corner of the 
glassed-in reading room, on the long pier. 

This woman did beautiful china painting, 
and all through the winter she had been making 
ready for the summer sale. 

Dainty after-dinner coffee cups, belt buckles, 
hand-painted hat-pins, calendars, and little nov- 
elties of all kinds found ready sale here. If 
the girl who is artistically inclined would pre- 
pare for three sales a year, one before Easter, 
a mid-summer sale at some resort, and a Christ- 
mas sale held in a hotel, where space can always 
be rented, she would find a ready market for all 
the dainty things she could get together. 

JACK HORNER PIES 

Anything in which favors can be concealed 
will pass muster as a " Jack Horner Pie." 



188 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Each of the special holidays presents an addi- 
tional opportunity of reaping a financial harvest 
by meeting the demand for appropriate, sym- 
bolic designs. 

Christmas calls for stars, wreaths, snowballs, 
bells, chimneys, sleighs, and Santa Clauses; 
Valentine's Day rings the changes on the heart 
and Cupid themes; St. Patrick's Day calls for 
every conceivable combination of shamrocks, 
lucky pigs, snakes, pipes, etc.; while Easter, 
Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, and the various pa- 
triotic holidays all have their distinctive em- 
blem. 

Then there are the wedding and other anni- 
versaries, besides many special occasions, such 
as class suppers and club affairs, all of which 
may be made to pay dividends to the " Pin- 
money Girl " who is as nimble of brain as of 
fingers. The field thus opened is an exceedingly 
profitable one, the returns being based almost 
entirely upon artistic skill and ingenuity. The 
cost of materials rarely exceeds two dollars, 
while the finished product may bring from three 
to twelve dollars, exclusive of favors. 

DINNER, TALLY, AND MENU CARDS 
For the every-day girl whose only claim to 
genius is the praiseworthy " capacity for taking 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 189 

pains," and whose business equipment consists 
of little else than good taste, a fair degree of 
manual dexterity, and a desire to make money, 
the decoration of place, tally, and menu cards, 
with designs cut from paper napkins, offers 
interesting possibilities. 

To begin with, but little capital is required; 
the cost of the highest grade, fast color napkins 
is but thirty-five cents a hundred, while a ten- 
cent sheet of bristol board, to be had at any 
stationer's or printer's, will make from two 
to four dozen cards. A bottle of gold tinting 
fluid for finishing the edges will increase the 
total by another dime, while a supply of art 
paste, an extra dry white paste, made especially 
for paper work, will cost all the way from ten 
cents for a good-sized tube, to seventy-five 
cents for a jar that holds a quart. 

In the second place no special skill or training 
is demanded, neatness of workmanship and a 
certain sense of balance or proportion being the 
chief requirements; while third, the market for 
such wares is practically unlimited, hardly a 
village in these days being too small to boast of 
its Bridge and Euchre clubs, and its sociable 
round of luncheon and dinner parties. 

The biggest demand is naturally for designs 
suited to the various national holidays, and 



190 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

thanks to the enterprise of the napkin makers, an 
abundance of decorative material is ready to 
hand. 

Designs which embody a class flower or the 
symbol of some secret order, are frequently 
called for, the large range of floral patterns, 
as well as napkins printed with the insignia of 
the Order of Elks, Eastern Star, and Masonic 
Fraternity, making the execution of such com- 
missions an easy matter. 

Place cards naturally fall into two classes, those 
in which the decoration is applied to the card 
itself in the form of a corner or border design, 
and those in which a flower or figure is cut out 
and mounted and a small place card then pasted 
across it. The latter style is the easier to make, 
and as profits in this line of work are in direct 
ratio to speed of execution it should be adopted 
wherever possible. 

The reason why the second type of card is 
easier to produce will be readily understood when 
the two methods of making are described. 

In the first the space to be occupied by the card 
proper is marked out on a piece of fine bristol 
board. Then the flowers or figures with which 
it is to be decorated are cut out, following the 
outlines carefully on the parts of the design which 
are to overlap the card, and pasted in position. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 191 

Here it is that the extra time is spent. The 
utmost care must be exercised to avoid smearing 
the exposed surface of the card with paste, and 
as the paper napkin stretches when wet, much 
dexterity is required in handling. 

In the second type of card, time may be saved 
at the very start by roughly blocking out the 
flower spray or other decorations with the shears, 
instead of following the minute details of the 
design. With a wide, flat brush, paste is applied 
to the entire surface of a piece of cardboard, upon 
which the paper decoration is placed and patted 
down lightly with the palm of the hand until 
it adheres at every point. 

When dry, the design and the cardboard backing 
are cut out together, thus saving one operation. 

A small white card on which to write the name 
is then cut out, the edges gilded, and pasted across 
the decorated background at the most effective 
point, so as to cross the stem of a flower. 

Tallies may or may not be furnished with 
pencils and cords attached. 

In some cases they will be ordered with the 

words " Table No. " and " Couple No. " 

lettered at the top, and in others the blank tal- 
lies will be preferred. 

Menus offer perhaps a greater variety than 
either place or tally cards. 



192 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Not infrequently the hostess ordering menu 
cards for a small party will wish to have them 
hand lettered, and it is therefore desirable that 
the " Pin-money Girl " add to her list of assets 
a practical working knowledge of the science of 
lettering. It is not a difficult art to acquire, at 
least to the degree needed in this work, and any 
bookstore will obtain, on request, a list of text 
books on the subject, if the library does not con- 
tain them. 

The prices to be charged for this work vary 
with the locality; a Fifth Ave. shop in New York 
City, for instance, would be able to sell a given 
article at a price considerably higher than could 
be obtained in a little New England village. It 
is safe to say, however, that the average price 
of place cards should range from fifty cents to 
$3.00 a dozen. Tally cards without pencils sell 
from seventy-five cents to $4.00 a dozen, and 
menu cards from $1.25 a dozen for a simple card 
to from $4.00 to $12.00 for elaborate folders, these 
prices being exclusive of lettering. 

In closing, a few words on the various ways 
of disposing of these wares may not come amiss. 
The most direct method is to insert a small 
advertisement in a local newspaper, repeating 
it at regular intervals, and carry at home a small 
stock of seasonable designs for filling " emergency 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 193 

orders," and a set of samples, always kept fresh 
and up-to-date for the inspection of those who 
call, to enable the worker to make their cards 
to order. 

The latter is preferable by far, as it eliminates 
the necessity of keeping a large stock on hand. 
Also arrange with a local stationer to keep on his 
counter a scrap book containing a full set of 
samples with the prices plainly marked. He will 
of course charge a commission on all orders taken, 
ranging from twenty per cent, to twenty-five per 
cent. 

A duplicate set of samples should be kept at 
home so that orders can be placed by number. 

Finally the Woman's Exchange offers good 
possibilities as selling media. They charge a 
small membership fee, usually from $2.00 to 
#2.50 a year and ten per cent, commission on all 
sales. 

PIN-MONEY PHOTOGRAPHY 

" My camera has brought me in over #200 
during the past year. Everybody likes pictures 
of the people and things which interest them the 
most. I have found that if a person can take 
good pictures with the little hand camera, she can 
always sell them. 

" If you own a camera and know how to use it 



194 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

and it does not bring you in pin-money, it is 
because you do not wish to earn money, not that 
you cannot do so, because very young children 
of my acquaintance are earning all their spending 
money in this way." 

AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY 

" I have earned a neat little sum by develop- 
ing films for my friends. 

" Sensitized photographic postal cards are not 
expensive, and local views, historic scenes, at- 
tractive poses of the children in your neighbor- 
hood, will all sell quickly. 

" If you can take the pictures of very young 
children well, you will find that every mother in 
your neighborhood will become an eager cus- 
tomer. 

" Newspapers and magazines are constantly 
buying pictures; historic scenes, pictures of a 
disaster, a fire, flood, windstorm, or wreck can be 
sold to your local paper, or to the big dailies if 
the scene is one of more than local interest. 

" The enlarging and coloring of photographs is 
most interesting and profitable work, and to the 
seeker after pin-money it opens up an unlimited 
field of remunerative work. 

" Be on hand with your camera at graduation 
time, when the football or baseball games come 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 195 

off, at picnics, when there is a parade, at the 
seashore and mountains. 

" Pin-money photography is easy and delight- 
ful work for a woman." 

CLAY MODELING 

" My one delight since childhood has been to 
fashion pretty things out of clay. It occurred to 
me last summer to turn this talent to monetary 
account. 

" A protected corner in a pavilion at one of the 
large seashore resorts was rented for July and 
August. My work bench, with its revolving 
wheel and few simple tools was duly installed, 
and my work began in earnest. 

" A crowd was gathered about my table the 
greater part of the time, as I formed vases of all 
sorts, ash and pin trays, candle-sticks, and rose jars. 

" The most elaborate articles took but a few 
moments to shape. These quickly dried, and my 
assistant with brush and color gave the finishing 
touches which made them exceedingly pretty. 

" These articles sold from ten cents to twenty- 
five cents each. 

" My receipts averaged from $y to #10 a day." 

OLD-FASHIONED MIRRORS 

" From a wholesale concern I purchased beauti- 
ful colored pictures, for a third to a half cent each, 



196 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

in gross lots. With a machine which cuts out 
5000 frames an hour, I can make up hundreds 
of the long, old-fashioned, narrow mirrors, which 
have the colored picture in the upper third, 
and the long mirror occupying the lower two- 
thirds of the frame. The cost of making up these 
quaint, old-fashioned mirrors never exceeds seven 
cents. Most of them only cost five cents to make, 
and they sell as fast as I can make them for fifteen 
cents each." 

PYROGRAPHY 

" My pyrography outfit has brought me in 
quite a little spending money. I have burned 
initials and monograms on leather novelties, 
decorated handkerchief boxes, book covers, etc." 

LEATHER WORK 

" There is an indescribable charm in an un- 
touched piece of leather, beautifully tanned; it 
is full of possibilities. The finished work, however 
elaborate, lies somewhere within it, and the slow 
and laborious process of molding it to express 
one's thought, is distinctly fascinating. 

" Whole skins may be decorated and used as 
table covers. The circular table mats, book covers, 
desk pads, magazine holders, etc., find a ready 
sale. 

" A person can also buy at wholesale, bags, 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 197 

sewing-rolls, pocket-books, leather-covered pen- 
cils, match-boxes, etc., in the plain leather, and 
names and monograms can be quickly burned 
onto each article, as sold." 

BRASS WORK 

" Art brass piercing is a new branch of art that 
can be successfully executed in the home. It 
is a simple and fascinating pastime, and the re- 
sults will be found satisfactory. In this new 
material, you are able to secure many designs, 
including candle-shades, fern-dishes, jardinieres, 
picture-frames, and pin-trays, which make delight- 
ful all-year-round gifts. 

" The material, a sheet of designed brass, 
and the tools may be bought at any art store. 
The worker will need steel piercers, drawing- 
board, thumb-tacks, brass pin-head fasteners, 
a pair of scissors and some art brass polish or 
antique lacquer to give a polished or antique effect 
if desired. 

" The sheet of designed brass is fastened on 
the drawing-board with the thumb-tacks. The 
design on the sheet of brass is outlined with the 
steel piercer by small holes close together, the 
background is then filled in with larger holes. 
After the brass has been covered with perfora- 
tions, cut out the form with a pair of sharp scis- 



198 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

sors, bend it to the desired shape and fasten with 
brass fasteners. The article is then ready for the 
art brass polish or the antique lacquer. These 
articles will find a ready sale throughout the year, 
as they make such practical gifts for grown-ups. 

" The art sheet brass designs cost from twenty- 
five cents up; the steel piercers with one and one- 
quarter inch blade can be bought for twenty cents 
each; the drawing-board for fifty cents, and art 
brass polish or antique lacquer for fifteen cents a 
bottle. The finished article will be pleasing to 
the eye, and the money which you will receive 
for it will far exceed the original cost of the 
material." M. F. A. 

HOW TO COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS 

The art of coloring pictures is not difficult to 
acquire. It requires a knowledge of colors and 
how to use them, extreme care and taste. It 
is a pleasant occupation for rainy days, and for 
the invalid it offers an interesting way of spend- 
ing the long hours. It can, by proper methods, 
be made to yield an income to the woman of cul- 
tivated tastes, and to the seeker after pin-money 
it offers opportunities not to be despised. There 
are no great difficulties to surmount, and the 
working tools are quite few in number and in- 
expensive. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 199 

It is best to start with few colors at first; 
cobalt, sepia, emerald green, violet, burnt sienna, 
gamboge, vermilion, and Vandyke brown will 
be found to answer almost every requirement. 
A white plate to mix colors on, a bowl of clear 
water, a sponge, a blotter and a red sable brush, 
about No. 7 (although both larger and smaller 
sizes can be used with equal success), complete 
the equipment. A north window will be found 
to have the best working light, which is a requisite. 

The character of the print will have much to 
do with the effect, as any attempt to lighten a 
very dark print will only make it appear dauby, 
and the shadows will overpower the tint. Have 
the prints clear and just dark enough to clearly 
define all objects and give to them their rela- 
tive values. Any of the mat surface papers will 
be found easy to color, but glossy papers are 
harder to work on and less satisfactory. It is 
quite worth while to experiment on different 
sorts of paper until you find the sort which you 
can work on with best results. 

If the paper appears greasy, rub it lightly 
with a piece of soft rubber eraser, or a soft cloth 
moistened with water to which a small amount 
of prepared oxgall has been added. 

If the paper is porous, care must be taken to 
lay on the washes evenly, for they cannot be al- 



200 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

tered when once laid on. Some papers have to 
be treated with a medium before they will take 
the color, but such papers had best not be used 
by the amateur. The paper used by almost all 
kodak finishers takes the color well and is easy 
to work on. 

In the coloring of landscapes, observation is 
worth more than suggestion. The sky in the 
bright sunlight should be tinted a delicate blue, 
stronger toward the zenith and fading out as it 
approaches the horizon. The depth and extent 
of this tinting will suggest morning, afternoon, 
and evening as it varies in intensity and extent. 
Clouds require care to make them appear fleecy. 
Sometimes it helps one to wet the entire sky 
with clear water, blotting off the surplus water 
and taking care not to have the paper too wet or 
it will wrinkle. Put in the spaces between the 
clouds with strong color; then, with the brush 
rinsed in clear water, soften the outlines and 
carry some of the blue in feathery touches into 
the clouds. Towards evening there is a yellow 
tint near the horizon which gradually widens, 
and around the setting sun will be gradually 
blended into a vermilion tint. 

The horizon itself will gradually vanish into 
a violet haze, and where a great distance is to 
be suggested, a little Chinese white maybe added 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 201 

to the violet in the extreme distance. Sunlight 
through the trees, or on the lawn is well sug- 
gested by emerald green mixed with gamboge, 
or even pure gamboge. Little flecks of pure 
gamboge always give life to a bit of sunlight. 

The green of the trees, grass, etc., not in the 
sunlight may be indicated by washes of emerald 
green, the shadows taking on more blue and the 
deep shadows receiving a wash of violet or pur- 
ple. Unless a ray filter has been used, the color 
of flowers will have to be put on with a body 
of Chinese white, to render it opaque. 

The road may be tinted in sepia, with a little 
touch of Vandyke brown in places and a wash of 
blue in shadows. Burnt sienna is useful in color- 
ing rocks, fences, twigs, etc. Lakes and rivers 
will reflect the sky, and the green of bushes on 
the bank may be repeated by a light wash near 
the water's edge.' 

If the print is of a scene with which you are 
familiar, go out and look at the natural color- 
ings of the place. This will help you greatly in 
getting your colors right. 

Use all the colors in moderation and try not 
to have large washes of any one color. Try to 
suggest the colors of Nature by a light tint that 
will stimulate the imagination, but avoid the 
garishness that characterizes so many cheaply 



202 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

colored prints. The study of good landscape 
paintings and the color plates of magazines 
will teach one a great deal, and experiment will 
also be found as valuable in this as in other 
things. If a print after the first attempt is un- 
satisfactory, sponge it off gently with clear water 
to which a little ammonia has been added, and 
you may try over again. 

A daintily colored print mounted on a piece 
of water-color paper, or on a harmonious shade 
of cover paper, with a small calendar glued on 
the card and finished by a pretty bow, will be a 
bright and attractive gift, and such calendars are 
in demand by all the art and dry-goods stores. 
As luncheon favors or place cards, a scene fa- 
miliar to all, or just an artistic bit of roadway 
when colored and mounted will be both unique 
and pleasing. And what prettier valentine could 
be imagined than a colored photograph of some 
favorite haunt, mounted on a heart-shaped card? 
Christmas and birthday cards, too, may be 
worked out in many distinctive and effective 
ways. 

For the coloring of portraits more skill is re- 
quired and also a greater variety of colors. It 
is too big a subject to deal lightly with, but a 
few suggestions will start one on the right way. 

You will need another brush of red sable, 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 203 

size No. 2, and be sure that it comes to a good 
point and is springy. 

For colors you will need pink madder, Ve- 
netian red, brown madder, cobalt, Chinese white, 
Indian red, Indian yellow, vermilion, sepia and 
burnt sienna. 

Cover the print to be colored with a piece of 
clean paper, to keep it free from the grease of 
the hand. 

Using a white china plate as a palette, mix a 
flesh tint of pink madder, vermilion, and raw 
sienna, or vermilion and Indian yellow. Wash 
the flesh tint on, being careful to cover all the 
flesh and leaving the eyes clear. This first wash 
will grow lighter as it dries, and after it is dry, 
stipple the lips with a carnation tint composed 
of pink madder and vermilion. This carnation 
tint will also do for the cheeks, but it must be 
stippled on very carefully. Touch the pupil of 
the eye with sepia, and if the eyelashes show, 
use sepia to indicate them. The deep shadows 
of the nostrils, ears, and mouth are best indi- 
cated by brown madder. For the shadows of 
the face, Indian red lowered with cobalt should 
be hatched on with a nearly dry brush, care 
being taken not to leave a spot of color at the 
end of the stroke. The high lights on the fore- 
head may be put in with a little Indian yellow 



204 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

and white, *and the edges of shadows stippled 
with cobalt. Care must be exercised constantly 
to avoid losing the expression and modeling of 
the features. It is hard to repair a mistake and 
better to go slowly enough, so that mistakes will 
not occur. 

The hair should be covered with a wash of 
the local color, then the darkest and most de- 
cided forms given their proper strength. Re- 
flected lights on the shoulders, neck, etc., should 
have a delicate tone of yellow. 

Wash the background in with a very broken 
outline, and with a brush rinsed in clear water 
and passed over the blotter, to remove the ex- 
cess of water, work all the outer edges until 
they are feathery. 

Good portrait colorists are in demand by 
photographers, and where the work is as dain- 
tily done as a miniature it commands a very 
good price. It is work that is well adapted to 
women, but only a comparatively short time 
each day should be given to it, as the picture 
will suffer from nervous or tired strokes. 

Babies' pictures are fascinating to work on 
and they gain much by coloring. As a reminder 
in after years of baby's soft, golden hair or his 
apple-like cheeks, the colored photograph is 
only surpassed by the miniature, which is so 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 205 

much more expensive that it is not within the 
reach of all. 

If you are a good photographer with a kodak 
and can snap some fetching pictures of neigh- 
borhood children, you will find a ready sale for 
these when carefully colored and framed. 

Experiment, care, and observance of Nature 
will develop the colorist and teach her a fas- 
cinating pastime, or a remunerative profession. 

ETCHED METAL 

The new etched metal work, which is having 
such vogue just now, is in reality not new at 
all. In various forms it has been used by jewel- 
ers and metal workers for many years, but it 
is only lately that its possibilities for the ama- 
teur have become known. 

Indeed, etching on metal is one of the easiest 
and most possible of handicrafts for the un- 
skilled worker. It requires few tools, almost 
none, in fact. A paint-brush or two, a sheet 
of carbon-paper, a lead pencil, a smooth crock- 
ery or glass bowl to hold the acid bath — all of 
these things are at hand in the average house- 
hold. There is no pounding, no bending, no 
heavy work of any kind as in most metal work. 
All is of -the simplest and easiest. 

As to the working materials, any plain brass 



206 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

or copper article may be decorated. Trays and 
bowls of various sorts, tea-caddies, book-ends, 
jardinieres, fern-dishes, trinket boxes, desk fit- 
tings, and so on — are some of the things which 
may be bought undecorated and changed into 
something quite individual and beautiful. 

In all cases the method of working is the 
same. No one need hesitate to try it if willing 
to follow the simple directions carefully and ab- 
solutely to the letter. 

The process in brief is this: A design is placed 
on the metal article to be decorated. The parts 
of the design which are to be in relief are painted 
over with asphaltum paint, and so is all the 
rest of the article, in order that the acid may 
not eat into the rest of the metal. The article is 
then immersed in diluted acid which slowly 
eats away the unpainted portions of the metal 
and leaves the design in clear, bold relief. 

Let us take a little brass tea-caddy as an illus- 
tration of how the work is done, carefully follow- 
ing every step of the process. 

First of all, the piece is thoroughly cleaned 
with a small scrubbing brush wet in lye-water, 
then dipped in finely powdered pumice. Too 
much attention cannot be given to having the 
metal perfectly clean before transferring the 
design. 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 207 

Upon that part of the tea-caddy to be decorated 
a piece of carbon-paper is placed, carbon side 
toward the brass. Above this is laid the 
paper on which the decorative design is drawn. 
Then with a hard pencil pressed down firmly, 
the outline of the design is gone over. On 
removing the paper, there is a faint carbon 
outline on the brass and this is now scratched 
on with a penknife or sharp nail, so that it can- 
not be readily obliterated, as the carbon lines 
could. 

The transferring process with the carbon- 
paper and knife is repeated until the design 
has been scratched on all the way around the 
tea-caddy. 

After this, another good scrubbing with lye- 
water and powdered pumice is necessary in 
order that the metal may be clean before the 
asphaltum paint is put on. Asphaltum paint, 
procurable at almost all paint and hardware 
stores, is painted on, using a cheap brush of 
the sort used in oil painting for the design itself, 
and a larger brush (to make the work go faster) 
for the rest of the tea-caddy. The places to be 
etched or eaten away are left bare. 

After painting, the tea-caddy is set away 
for twelve hours to allow the asphaltum paint to 
harden. It is then immersed in a glazed earthen 



208 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

bowl, filled with a bath of two-thirds clear water, 
one part nitric acid, C. P. The acid is handled 
most carefully, and the bowl kept covered, as 
the fumes are both disagreeable and harmful. 

The tea-caddy is looked at occasionally (lifted 
out with a stick, though rubber gloves might 
be used to protect the hands) to see if the etch- 
ing is deep enough. A little experience will 
soon enable one to know this. In general it 
depends upon the thickness of the metal. 

After the design is etched deeply into the 
metal, the tea-caddy is taken out and washed 
in cold water. As soon as it is dried, the as- 
phaltum paint is removed by a good soaking 
in kerosene, and the whole tea-caddy is rubbed 
and polished. 

For those who cannot obtain the asphaltum 
paint there is a substitute to be had in pure bees- 
wax. The great disadvantage in working with 
the wax is, that it must be melted and kept in a 
vessel of hot water while it is being painted on. 
As it hardens very quickly on the brush, the 
painting must be done very rapidly and ac- 
curately. However, when the design is painted 
on the metal in wax, it can be at once put into 
the acid bath and does not need to be set away 
for a time to harden like the asphaltum paint. 

Almost all of the novelty and Oriental shops 



ARTS AND CRAFTS AT HOME 209 

have a stock of goods in plain brass and copper, 
which may be decorated in etched work. If 
one desires, an initial or monogram may be 
drawn on the metal and etched into relief, ma- 
king a simple and effective decoration. 

Brass is usually left bright, but a very beau- 
tiful color effect may be obtained by coloring 
the brass with three and one-half ounces of 
copper carbonate mixed with one and one-half 
pints of strong spirits of salamoniac. Allow 
this to stand, then shake. It must form a pre- 
cipitate. Dilute with one-half pint of water 
and let stand a day or two before using. The 
mixture is then painted on the object with a 
brush. 

To give copper the rich dark brown seen 
on so many . of the best craft-worker's pieces, 
dissolve a piece of flower of sulphur, about the 
size of a hickory nut, in a kettle of boiling water 
and immerse the copper piece in it. Care must 
be taken to cover the entire object first, other- 
wise it will color unevenly. Allow the metal 
piece to become dry, then rub all over with sperm- 
oil. High lights may be rubbed up with the palm 
of the hand. 

A caution is necessary to those who are not 
familiar with handling acid. Nitric acid is a 
deadly poison, and will, if it gets on the flesh, 



210 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

quickly eat into it, leaving a frightful sore. If 
it is splashed on fabrics of any sort it will at 
once eat holes in them. Handling it, therefore, 
must be done with the utmost caution. It is 
well for the worker to wear a big apron of some 
coarse material to protect the clothing, and rub- 
ber gloves for the hands are necessary. The 
utmost care should, of course, be taken to keep 
it out of the way of children and animals. 

Bold conventional designs are the only ones 
suited to this kind of work. 

It is better to begin this work with some very 
simple piece, such as a paper-knife or very small 
tray, choosing a bold design with no elaboration. 
The beginner who attempts an ambitious piece 
will often be disheartened at the result, for with 
etched metal as with all other handicrafts, be 
they ever so simple, practice brings a knack 
which makes for perfect work. 



CHAPTER VIII 



TEACHING 



Many a woman has an aptitude for teaching 
and has also particular information that other 
people will gladly pay to acquire. It is almost 
always possible to form classes or find individual 
pupils if you have the required knowledge and 
the desire to impart it. Below will be found 
suggestions on various subjects which are likely 
to prove popular and successful ones for a pin- 
money earner to teach. 

COOKING AND MARKETING 

" Twice a week a class of ten girls meets at 
my house for a lesson in cooking. Twice a month 
we visit the market, and the girls are instructed 
regarding the various cuts of meats and the prices 
of meat and fish. The course of twenty lessons 
costs $5.00 and the parents are only too glad 



212 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

to pay this small amount for the practical in- 
structions received." 

RIDING AND DRIVING 

" A woman with good knowledge of horseman- 
ship, perfect health, patience, and courage can 
earn a nice little sum by teaching riding and dri- 
ving. In teaching children, infinite pains must 
be taken and the teacher should be most con- 
scientious." 

TRAVEL CLASS 

" One evening a week I have devoted to a 
Travel Class. Ten young women meet at my 
house. I supply maps and guidebooks, and we 
pore over these until we have a comprehensive 
idea of the city we are ' visiting ' on that particular 
evening. 

" Nearly every girl has a longing to travel, 
but when one has a limited income and vacation 
trips are out of the question, there is a vast amount 
of pleasure to be derived from these imaginary 
trips at home. Before each weekly meeting, 
I spend many hours in our public library gather- 
ing all the interesting facts possible about the 
place to be visited the coming week and in this 
way, a brief lecture is prepared. Each girl pays 
twenty-five cents an evening; refreshments are 



TEACHING 213 

served, and after our study hour is over, there is 
music or dancing." 

NURSE'S LECTURES 

A young woman who has graduated as a trained 
nurse writes us that she has successfully organized 
several classes of young married women, to whom 
she is lecturing twice a month. The course of 
lectures cost only #1.00 and her income from this 
source has been over #250.00. 

SWIMMING CLASSES 

" Last summer I successfully organized a 
swimming class at a seaside resort, and at the 
end of the season had earned #175.00. Many per- 
sons go to the seashore every summer who do 
not know how to swim and when they see others 
having a good time in the water, they want to 
join in the sport. 

" Some women object to taking lessons from 
a man, and mothers feel safe in entrusting their 
little girls to my care." 

PIANO ACCOMPANISTS 
" Many well-taught pianists are not a success 
in securing pupils, but if one is a good accom- 
panist, the demand for such work exceeds the 
supply and the remuneration is all that can be 



214 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

desired. The course at the School of Accom- 
panying, consists of twenty lessons, by which 
one is fitted for studio work." 

WHIST TEACHING 

" I have been successful in earning more than 
pin-money, by giving lessons in whist at several 
of the large summer and winter hotels. My 
prices for private lessons are $1.00 an hour, and 
from $3.00 to $5.00 for a two hour class lesson. 
There is a great demand for teachers in whist 
and chess, at the fashionable summer resorts." 

BRIDGE WHIST 

In this day when a knowledge of bridge whist 
is almost a social requisite, there are many who 
will gladly pay for lessons in the game. A clever 
woman with a thorough understanding of bridge, 
good " card sense," and a little patience, will 
have no difficulty in forming classes. One girl 
I know has a different class at her home every 
day in the week. There are four in each class, 
the lessons last two hours, and she charges two 
dollars per hour, making the cost fifty cents for 
each pupil. She prepares some of the hands 
before the lesson and watches each play, criticizing 
and explaining at the time, and discussing the hand 
afterward, especially. The length of the lesson is 



TEACHING 215 

optional with the pupils, but she limits each class 
to four people, as better and quicker results are 
obtained when her attention is undivided. There 
is no expense except for cards and score pads, 
and her love of the game makes this very lucrative 
employment a real pleasure. 

CORRECTING SCHOOL PAPERS 

" I have earned #5.00 by assisting in the cor- 
recting of school papers. My sister is a teacher in 
the grammar school and I am a Freshman in the 
High, so am pretty well qualified to help her out 
at times." 

COACHING BACKWARD PUPILS 

" My summer has been spent in coaching back- 
ward pupils. I called upon the teachers in our 
public schools and from them secured the names 
of children who were ' conditioned ' in their pro- 
motion, or who had fallen hopelessly behind on 
the year's work. My charge was fifty cents a 
lesson and every morning was devoted to this 
work. I have earned $60.00 in this manner." 

TEACHING DELICATE CHILDREN 

In one of our large cities, two refined women 
take delicate children to board and educate. 
These children are not feeble-minded, but are 



216 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

not strong enough to attend to their studies 
regularly. The charge for care and tuition is 
#10.00 a week for each child. 

" I have organized a small class of children, 
for the purpose of teaching them to read, speak 
and sing correctly. The children meet twice a 
week at my home for a one hour lesson. The 
cost of the twenty lessons is #5.00." 

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL COACH 

" I am an ex-teacher and live in a small city 
where fathers and mothers think they are too 
busy to study with their children, so several of 
my young friends got into the habit of coming to 
me with their school work. I was willing to help 
them, but they often came at inconvenient hours, 
so after consulting the superintendent of schools 
I evolved this plan: 

" I fitted the large back hall, for which we had 
no special use, as a study. The floor was hardwood, 
oiled. I used no rugs and the furniture consisted 
of a large table, chairs, and a bookcase, contain- 
ing my school books, dictionaries, and reference 
books. 

" I visited the mothers whose children I had 
been helping and told them I was ready to give 
them any assistance they needed in their school 



TEACHING 217 

work. Children in the grades would be received 
from five till six o'clock and high-school students 
from six until seven o'clock in the evening, and 
all grades from seven until eight in the morning. 
My charges were fifty cents for an hour and a 
dollar for two hours daily assistance. There were 
many school children living near me, and so many 
came, that I limited my class to fifteen. Some 
wanted special drills before examinations and 
after absence from school, so I arranged to give 
c cramming ' lessons at fifty cents per hour. I have 
enjoyed the work, and my income has been nearly 
as much as I had over expenses when teaching." 

M. B. 

HOME KINDERGARTEN 

A busy mother in the Middle West has a small 
kindergarten of ten pupils in her sunny dining- 
room. Each child pays fifty cents a week for 
instruction. This mother has taken no courses 
in kindergarten work, but purchased a few of the 
Froebel books and studied nights, devoting two 
hours a day to the teaching of her own children, 
before she opened the school. 

SAND-PILES FOR CHILDREN 

One frail girl, who is not strong enough to do 
any outside work, had a load of sand brought to 
her yard and sent out little invitations to the 



218 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

children of the neighborhood inviting them to 
visit the " Sand-Pile Lady " on a certain after- 
noon, from two until four. She then sent out 
notices to the mothers, to the effect that children 
could be left in her care daily for a small sum, 
should the sand-pile prove a diversion. The 
children had such a glorious time with her, that 
she has been able to earn considerable, though 
far from strong. 

AN OUTDOOR KINDERGARTEN 
" Having a large orchard back of my house, I 
utilized it in this way. I sent cards to mothers 
of small children in my town stating that I would 
amuse and instruct children (out of doors on 
pleasant days), six days a week from nine to 
twelve, for seventy-five cents, or for fifty cents 
each where more than one child came from a 
family. I could not take all the children who 
wished to come. We had a sand-pile, learned to 
play games, etc. 

" Under an apple-tree we had a long, low table 
with kindergarten chairs, and here we had stick- 
laying, pasting, clay-modeling, paper-folding and 
cutting. 

" On rainy days, the chairs and table were 
brought inside, and the work carried on in the 
attic. 



TEACHING 219 

" Sometimes we offered a reward of ginger- 
bread men and women, or some other goody when 
the work was especially well done." 

DANCING LESSONS 

" Dancing lessons have supplied me with all 
my pin-money this past year. Once a week a 
class of forty children meets in the club-house. 
This class lesson pays me #20.00 an evening, at 
the rate of #10.00 for twenty lessons. No refund 
is made if a child loses two or three lessons 
but in case of prolonged illness, a discount is 
made. Saturday evening I have a large class of 
the older boys and girls, also men and women, 
who pay #1.00 a lesson. Out of the amount 
taken in, I pay #10.00 a week for the use of the 
two halls, and #1.00 a week for light and heat." 

CHILDREN'S PARTIES 
" Over #50.00 have been earned by planning 
children's parties in the town in which I live. 
I have also acted as ' coach ' in getting up min- 
strel shows for the children, and little Christmas 
plays." 

BOTANY CLASSES 

" I think I have averaged over #25.00 a year 
by taking children into the woods and studying 



220 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

nature. Botany classes are popular, as the chil- 
dren enjoy the trips into the suburbs to gather 
specimens. I charge twenty-five cents an hour, 
and Saturday afternoons are devoted to this 
work." 

PICTURE-MAKING 

" I have a class of children who meet at my 
home Saturdays for the purpose of cutting, past- 
ing, and mounting of pictures. From one of the 
wholesale kindergarten supply houses, large sheets 
can be purchased on which are pictured the va- 
rious rooms in the home, unfurnished. From old 
magazines the room furnishings are cut, and the 
child who succeeds in furnishing her room in the 
most practical and artistic manner is given a 
small prize. I have also sold many sets of wooden 
animals cut from a few feet of three-ply wood. 
This retails for twelve cents a square foot. 

" The Woman's Home Companion furnishes 
paper patterns for these wooden toys which are 
so popular in the nursery. In writing for pat- 
terns address the letter, ' Jig-Saw Toys ' care 
Woman's Home Companion, 381 Fourth Ave. 
New York City. 

" For a few cents a large map of the United 
States can be purchased. This can be glued 
securely on a large sheet of cardboard and then 



TEACHING 221 

cut into a ' Dissected Puzzle ' on the boundary 
lines of the states. These maps will sell for #1.00." 

MUSIC LESSONS 

" Being a busy housekeeper and a mother I 
found my time very limited for work other than 
my every-day duties, yet I determined to earn 
something myself. My plan is not original, as 
there are thousands of music teachers, but per- 
haps they do not teach at night as I do. 

" As my husband's work kept him from home 
until late each night, I decided to make the long 
evenings profitable, as well as pleasant, by giving 
music lessons to some of my friends, who were 
working girls, and could not study music except 
at night after their day's work at the office. 

" I have six pupils, all from my own neighbor- 
hood, and I thoroughly enjoy my work." 

M. B. G. 

DRAWING LESSONS 

"At present I am earning $3.00 a week by 
teaching drawing to a class of twelve little girls. 
Two afternoons a week they meet at my home and 
as they are only beginners, the charge for the two 
lessons is only twenty-five cents weekly, for each 
pupil. I also have an evening class of older 
girls, who pay fifty cents a week each." 



222 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

STORY-TELLING TO CHILDREN 
" Have something like the following pamphlets 
printed and distributed to all the families of 
your neighborhood. i The Children's Story Hour. 
On Tuesday and Friday, between the hours of 
two and three. Miss Jones will hold a Children's 
Story Hour at (mention the place). The price for 
subscribing for the whole series of stories (which 
may last any length of time desired) is (mention 
the price). These stories will be both entertaining 
and instructive.' 

" After giving the above pamphlets out, visit 
the homes and get the parents into the spirit of 
the scheme. Have a perfect little fairy room 
fitted up in which to tell your stories which could 
be made quite interesting if you could have older 
children dressed up to represent some of the 
characters mentioned. If care is taken in the 
selection of the stories, if you study the relating 
of the same carefully, and if you love and under- 
stand children, this scheme will meet with success. 
" Early in the summer, have a carpenter build 
a platform for you in a shady lot. Have posts 
put up at intervals so that you may have growing 
vines in abundance in the room, making it as 
attractive and cool as possible, and finally cover 
the floor with matting. Have little low chairs 
and play tables out here and during the warm 



TEACHING 223 

summer months your Children's Hour will be 
overflowing with tiny summer boarders, as well 
as children who are neighbors the year round." 

J. R. 

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL STORY-TELLER 

" Since I was a small child, I have loved to 
tell stories, or ' spin yarns ' with the younger chil- 
dren. During recess, when a child, my class- 
mates would keep me busy telling stories, and 
since reaching womanhood, my love for story- 
telling is as keen as ever. I, therefore, decided to 
organize a ' story-telling class ' for children, which 
I have held in our large parlor twice a week, from 
four to five o'clock. 

" My charge is five cents an hour and I have 
entertained as many as sixty children in an after- 
noon. During two evenings a week, I have a class 
of older girls, who have passed beyond the story- 
telling age. These evenings are spent in reading 
the best fiction, in taking up courses of travel, 
etc. The charge for these readings is twenty- 
five cents an evening. Hot chocolate and wafers 
are served during the cold weather, and punch, 
or ice cream and wafers during the warm weather." 

AMUSING INVALIDS 

" My work is that of amusing little invalids and 
convalescents. Nothing affords a child greater 



224 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

pleasure than the colored modeling clay. I have 
purchased the various colors in one pound bricks, 
which should cost only twenty-five cents each. 
My working tools are a few toothpicks and a knife. 
I have fashioned all kinds of fruits, animals, dolls, 
cakes, etc., from the clay. I also take with me 
a pail of seashore sand and a few tin molds. The 
sand is dampened slightly and warmed, to avoid 
any possible chill to the child's hands. These 
simple toys will make an afternoon pass quickly. 
My charge is #1.00 for an afternoon's work." 

CHILDREN'S PARTIES 
" For years I have clipped everything I could 
find in the daily papers and magazines on ' Home 
Entertainments,' ' Games for Children,' and 
' Ideas for Church Fairs.' 

" I am now prepared to take charge of chil- 
dren's parties and to offer suggestions regarding 
ways and means for earning money at church 
fairs, etc. These valuable suggestions clipped 
from the magazines have made it possible for me 
to earn over $100.00 this past year." 

PAPER-BAG COOKING 

" I have succeeded in earning over $50.00 this 
year by giving lessons in Chafing-dish cookery. 
I am now taking up the popular Paper-Bag Cook- 



TEACHING 225 

ery, and have been instructing a class of young 
married women in this branch of culinary art. 

" The following suggestions will prove helpful 
to many who cannot take a course of this kind. 
" Select a bag that fits the food to be cooked. 
Grease the bag well on the inside, except in case 
of vegetables, or when water is to be added. 
When food is seasoned and otherwise prepared, 
place in bag, fold mouth of bag two or three times, 
and fasten with a wire paper clip. Also fold and 
fasten with clips the corners of the bag, to make 
it fit the food snugly. If the bag leaks in cook- 
ing, do not transfer food to another bag. Simply 
put the bag within another. Place the bag in 
oven (gas, coal, or oil), on grid shelves or wire 
broilers, never on solid shelves. Do not open or 
move the bags when once placed for cooking. 
Put roasts and entrees on lower shelves, fish on 
the middle, pastry, etc. on the top, where heat 
is most intense. 

" Have the oven hot, (200 degrees Fahrenheit) 
by lighting the gas eight minutes before putting 
in bag, then slack heat one-third to one-half as 
soon as the bag corners turn brown. 

" Do not let the bag touch sides of oven or gas 
flames. Adhere to time given in recipes, then 
food will be well cooked. Take up bag, by slip- 
ping the lid of a tin pot underneath it. To secure 



226 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

gravy, let out water, etc. make a pinhole in bot- 
tom of the bag and drain over a dish. 

" Except in pies, no dish should be used in 
paper bag cooking." 



CHAPTER IX 



FOR VARYING TASTES 



The ways of making pin-money are almost 
unlimited. Aside from the methods which are 
most usually followed, are those original and 
clever ways which come occasionally as an in- 
spiration, and which would never occur to the 
average person. In this chapter will be found 
a number of these unusual but perfectly practi- 
cable ideas, which many readers will be able to 
employ to good advantage. 

THE SAUSAGE KING 

The life story of Mr. Jones, " The Sausage 
King," should prove an inspiration to every per- 
son who is handicapped in their struggle for a 
living, by a frail body and shattered health. 

Mr. Jones was a college man, strong and 
athletic; life was full of promise for him. He had 
been out of college only a few years when he 



228 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

was laid low by rheumatism in its most violent 
form. For many years he was unable to move 
hand or foot and suffered intensely. 

But he was a married man with a family of 
small children to support. As the terrible pain 
eased a bit, Mr. Jones remembered that a mem- 
ber of his family had made splendid sausage 
meat, which was the envy of the neighbors. 

He succeeded in securing the recipe and a 
strong man was hired to make the sausage meat 
in Mr. Jones' little kitchen, to sell to the trade. 

To-day " Jones' Sausages " are known through- 
out the country, and this wonderfully brave man 
made a financial success of life, although he never 
regained his health. 

KEEPING BOARDERS 

One hustling little woman, who owns a large, 
comfortable, old-fashioned farmhouse near Con- 
cord, Mass., is making more than a comfortable 
living by taking boarders. 

She has plenty of rich milk, fresh eggs, poultry, 
and vegetables supplied from her farm. 

She realizes that in order to attract guests who 
can afford to pay her good prices, she must have 
a well-ordered home, modern conveniences, and 
outdoor recreation. Hardwood floors are through- 
out the house; the latest, up-to-date plumbing has 



FOR VARYING TASTES 229 

been installed. The servants are neat and respect- 
ful; the table linen is immaculate. 

A wide, concrete porch has been built on two 
sides of the great house; a safe family horse and 
comfortable carriage can be hired for fifty cents 
an hour. On the wide lawn are a good tennis 
court and croquet grounds. 

Semi-invalids can come here and find rest, 
and they are willing to pay well for the comforts 
afforded them. 

How is it possible for a capable woman with 
such a home to be a financial failure? 

ANOTHER SORT OF BOARDING HOUSE 

Another busy woman who owns a large, com- 
fortable farmhouse, with no modern conveniences, 
has turned her home into a place of rest for 
tired working-girls, of limited means. Here a 
girl can spend her two weeks' vacation by paying 
from #3.50 to $5.00 a week for room and board. 

Two large rooms are turned into girls' dormi- 
tories, containing six cots each. Twenty guests 
can be accommodated at a time on this farm, 
and as much of the food is raised on the place, the 
owner clears from #1.50 to #2.00 on each boarder. 

RENTING ROOMS 

" As the head of the firm had recently died, 
my father, with many others of the old employees, 



230 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

was asked to retire, in favor of younger, smaller 
salaried men. 

" Then the necessity of my helping out became 
urgent. Our house was a large, comfortable one, 
within commuting distance of the city. I there- 
fore decided to rent as many rooms as possible 
to young men. On the third floor there were five 
nicely furnished rooms and a large, old-fashioned 
attic. 

" The attic was converted into a smoking and 
lounging room, at one end of which was a billiard 
table. The bedrooms were simply but attract- 
ively furnished. Two of the floors were painted, 
and bright pretty rugs took the place of a carpet. 
On the other floors was serviceable grass mat- 
ting. The paint was white and the wall-paper 
plain. Oatmeal paper is in every way the most 
serviceable and artistic. 

" The beds were single iron cots, with spiral 
springs or box mattresses, and were provided 
with the very thick cotton mattresses. Dark 
green or red spreads turned the bed into a divan 
during the day. Hooks were placed on the backs 
of the doors, if the closet room was limited, and 
wooden boxes with hinged covers were made to 
slip under the beds. These were useful for boots 
or clothing. No old-fashioned bureaus were in 
the rooms, but tall, narrow chiffoniers with a 



FOR VARYING TASTES 231 

shaving-glass on top. These were placed near the 
gas jet, so that one could easily see to shave. 
A piece of sandpaper was tacked to the wall near 
the gas jet, and a glass suspended from the jet 
to hold the burned matches. 

" The rooms were furnished with the portable, 
white enameled washstands, which are sanitary 
and easily kept sweet and clean. These stands 
are furnished with a soap dish, towel rack and a 
shelf below for the pail holding the waste water. 
Clean towels were supplied daily, and the sheets 
changed once a week. The rooms rented for 
$10.00 and $12.00 a month, as no meals were 
furnished. The room money carried us over a 
very hard winter." 

TENT BOARDERS 

" My home is up in the Orange Mountains. 
When my husband was taken sick, it became a 
problem how I could earn some money to help 
support the family. My boys suggested that I 
advertise for ' tent boarders,' or persons who were 
suffering from a breakdown and who feared in- 
cipient tuberculosis. I did this and rented three 
tents, which we had made out of ten-ounce duck, 
and placed on the ridge of our farm. All of the 
cooking was done in the house and the boys 
served the patients in their tents or under the 



232 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

trees. Any woman living on a farm in a high 
altitude can pick up quite a lot of money in this 
way." 

CAMPING SITE TO LET 

There are two young women in New England 
who bought a delightful camping site for #125. 
They then bought three large tents of khaki duck. 

The tents were ten by twelve with an opening 
at the back which allowed free circulation of air. 
The opening was finished with a flap. Each 
tent had a double fly which protected the roof 
canvas on rainy days. 

The tents were pitched near a spring, on high 
ground with beautiful views spreading out before 
one in every direction. 

The station and stores were within a half 
hour's walk. 

These tents rented for #50 each a season. 

RENTING SUN UMBRELLAS 
" Last summer I secured the sole right to rent 
out sun umbrellas and camp stools, at one of our 
seashore resorts. Every Friday evening, there 
were fireworks on the pier and between two and 
three hundred camp stools were rented, at ten 
cents an evening. 

"During the day, the large sun umbrellas, 



FOR VARYING TASTES 233 

which are really miniature tents, were rented by 
the hour. I employed three boys to handle these 
umbrellas and to collect the money. Over $500.00 
were earned in this manner." 

SUPPLYING FISHING TACKLE 

" I spent this last summer at the seashore, and 
quite a little spending money was earned by rent- 
ing out fishing tackle and selling bait. The charge 
for bait and tackle for an afternoon was $1.50. 
My husband also carried fishing parties out twice 
a day, he supplying lines and bait. Each person 
in the party paid $1.00 for a two hours' trip." 

LETTING SAILBOAT 

" About #20.00 were earned this past summer at 
the shore, by renting my small sailboat to parties 
at twenty-five cents an hour." 

RENTING A BARN 
" We have a very large barn on our farm, and 
rent it to picnic or pleasure parties. In the fall 
the barn is trimmed with corn stalks and pine 
branches. It is lighted by electricity, and as 
the floor is in good condition, the High School 
boys have hired it as a dance hall, and for their 
club meetings every month. The $75.00 thus 
earned are given to me for my spending money." 



234 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

DRESS FORM 

" I am the only woman in our village who owns 
a dress form. This has been rented out to my 
neighbors frequently, at twenty-five cents a day. 
In this way I have been able to earn a little 
pocket money." 

VACUUM CLEANING NO. i 

Last year several society women in a New 
Jersey town decided to earn every dollar of their 
Christmas charity money themselves, and not 
to call on father, mother, or husband for a penny. 
They clubbed together and purchased a vacuum 
cleaner. A boy was hired to operate the machine, 
and early in the fall these young women called 
on all of their friends, explaining their scheme, 
and orders were booked for fall and holiday 
cleaning. 

They were unable to fill one-half of the orders 
given them, and in a very short time a nice sum 
was realized above all expenses. 

VACUUM CLEANING NO. 2 

Two women in the town of New Castle, 
Indiana, clubbed together and purchased a " Cy- 
clone " vacuum house cleaner, for $30 and are 
now earning pin-money in that way. They rent 
it out to neighbors at two dollars a day for 



FOR VARYING TASTES 235 

cleaning houses and house furnishings, a boy 
being employed at small charge to operate the 
simple machine. 

There are cheaper vacuum cleaners on the 
market, but they bought a reliable make which 
has already paid them big returns on their invest- 
ment of fifteen dollars each. 

MAKING ONE'S OWN ICE 
" Every woman who lives in the country in a 
northern latitude can make her own ice whether 
there is a pond on the place or not, and save her 
ice money for pin-money. Last winter I hired a 
tin-smith to make me twelve pans of heavy galvan- 
ized iron, bound with strong wire at the top. They 
were twelve inches deep, eight inches wide and 
fifteen inches long at the top, and one inch shorter 
and one inch narrower at the bottom. The pans 
could be of any size, and of a length to admit of 
the cakes fitting exactly into the ice-house either 
way. The pans should stand exactly level, about 
a foot apart. 

" Place them near the well. Fill with pure 
water, to within two inches of the top. If the 
mercury stands five or six below zero, ice will 
form over night two or three inches thick on the 
top and an inch on the sides, but hardly any on 
the bottom. 



236 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

" The next morning, stand the pans on their 
sides, allowing them to rest on some support 
previously arranged. Hot water is then poured 
onto the sides of the pans, until the ice is loosened 
and rests upon the poles or supports upon which 
the tins have rested. 

" As soon as possible remove the pans from the 
ice, break the thin ice that has formed on the 
bottom, and remove most of the water from the 
shell cake. As the small amount of water left 
in the shell freezes, add a little more, and continue 
this process until you have a solid cake of ice." 

DELIVERING ICE 

" Women who wish to earn a little extra money 
can do so by purchasing ice direct from the ice 
car, and selling it to families. The ice man 
charges from forty cents to sixty cents a hundred 
for ice, but he buys it for about twenty cents 
from the car. My boys have been delivering ice 
all summer in a small hand cart of their own 
construction." 

WAYS TO MAKE HARD SOAP 

A woman who takes many prizes at county 
fairs for her homemade soaps,- makes her hard 
soap according to this formula: For ten pounds 
of soap, take five and one-half pounds of clean, 



FOR VARYING TASTES 237 

unsalted grease. Lard and tallow make an excel- 
lent combination, or either used separately is 
good. Melt the grease in a kettle and cool it 
until it is only lukewarm. 

While the grease cools, dissolve a ten-pound 
can of lye in three and one-half pints of cold 
water, and heat it lukewarm in an earthen or 
iron vessel. A good test for the grease is to have 
it just lukewarm to the hand. Then pour the 
lukewarm lye into the grease (not the grease into 
the lye) and stir carefully until the two are thor- 
oughly combined. 

If you stir them too long they will separate. 
The mixture is put into a wooden box lined with 
paper or calico, and set in a warm place for a day 
or two. 

Cut it into oblong cakes with a string or fine 
wire. 

NO. 2 

Use half a gallon of lye, to five and one-half 
pounds of clean fat, tallow scraps or drippings. 
Melt the fat in a large kettle. Add one-fourth 
of a pint of the lye, and boil over the fire until 
the biting taste is gone. Add the same quantity of 
the lye and continue boiling. Keep on in this 
way until the lye is all consumed, adding also 
from time to time as much water as has been 



238 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

consumed. The liquid will become transparent 
like honey. Add half a pound of salt, and boil 
until the soap separates from the lye and drops off 
the wooden paddle like greasy water. A little 
bit pressed between the thumb and finger should 
not feel greasy, but flatten into thin scales. If 
too much salt is used the soap will be crumby and 
brittle. Let it simmer ten minutes, then skim off 
the soap floating on the top, put into a mold, 
and set aside to drain and harden. This will make 
a hard white soap. The lye and grease left in the 
kettle will make a good soft soap by adding 
four gallons of water and letting it boil. To make 
a yellow soap, add one-third rosin to two-thirds 
grease. Add the rosin to the lye first. When it 
dissolves add the grease and proceed as in the 
given recipe. 

NO. 3 

" One of my pin-money occupations is the ma- 
king of soap for household use. All of the scraps 
of fat, trimmings from cooked and uncooked 
meats, skimmings from the stock pot and stews, 
in fact every bit of fat that cannot be used for 
frying, is carefully saved and put into the soap- 
grease pot. In this way we always have an 
abundant supply of pure, white, clean soap, at 
a cost of practically only a ten cent can of lye. 



FOR VARYING TASTES 239 

" Here is my recipe: Dissolve a can of granu- 
lated lye in three and a half pints of cold water, 
using an iron or earthen vessel. Place in the sun. 
Try out the fat and carefully strain. There should 
be six pounds. Heat and set aside to cool. When 
the lye water has attained ' summer heat/ pour it 
slowly into the lukewarm grease. Never pour the 
grease into the lye. 

" Add a heaping tablespoonful of borax, and 
stir until the lye and grease are thoroughly com- 
bined. As soon as the mixture is thick, the stir- 
ring must stop or the materials will separate. 
Have ready a wooden box lined with clean 
paper or cloth. Pour the mixture into this and 
cover and let it set in a warm place for several 
days to harden. Should the soap show greasy- 
streaks, remelt and add a pint and a half of 
water." 

FLYPAPER PENNIES 

A friend of mine sent me the following instruc- 
tions for making flypaper, and I have made a 
little money by selling several hundred sheets 
at five cents each. 

" One gallon of linseed oil (no other kind will 
answer) should be put into a strong iron pot, 
which has a tightly fitting cover. Bring this oil 
to a boil and set fire to it on top at the same time. 



240 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

This should be done out-of-doors. Let it boil for 
at least three-quarters of an hour. Extinguish 
the flames by putting the cover on. Then take 
a stick and dip it into the boiling oil, allowing 
a little to cool on the stick; if it is the consistency 
of thick molasses when cool, it has boiled long 
enough. 

" I was advised to add a half pound of powdered 
rosin to the oil, but this will make it dry quicker 
and will not be desired by some. I bought several 
hundred sheets of stout, brown manilla paper, 
cutting it into sheets about the size of type- 
writer paper. 

" The thick burned oil was painted on each 
sheet, and the sheets folded in the middle to 
prevent their soiling anything they might come 
in contact with. If slightly warmed before 
using, they can be unfolded easily and remain 
fresh some months. 

" These cost about a cent each to make and 
retail for five cents." 

POLISHING KNIVES 

" I have earned my pin-money in rather an 
unusual way. I purchased a small grindstone 
for #1.00, and a knife-polishing machine which 
cost $8.00; I am kept busy sharpening scissors 
and knives, also polishing knives." 



FOR VARYING TASTES 241 

SHOE-POLISHING 

" A woman's shoe-polishing parlor will pay any 
girl who is intent upon earning her living and who 
is not hindered by false pride. 

" When I decided upon this branch of work, 
I was without funds, and was forced to borrow 
#200. I purchased my platform, chairs, brushes, 
and polishing materials. Two good boys were 
hired at a dollar a day. I charged five cents 
for an ordinary shine; ten cents for an oil 
shine and twenty cents for scouring tan shoes. 
The parlor was for women and children 
only, and the work was guaranteed satisfac- 
tory. I have made a good income from the 
start." 

PAPER PLASTER 

Paper plaster is made from old newspapers, 
torn to bits and soaked in water over night. 
This mass is then put through a meat chopper 
and again wet. Mix with a little glue, and color 
the desired shade with dyes or water colors. 
This can be modeled like clay. Boxes or bottles 
may be covered with this plaster and pretty bas- 
relief effects may be secured by pressing the 
plaster into any desired pattern with a flat 
stick. This plaster will harden within a few 
days. 



242 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

CLEANING WINDOWS 

" My spending money is earned cleaning win- 
dows. I first rub the glass with a soft cloth 
moistened with turpentine. I then use Bon Ami, 
which is again removed with a soft cloth. The 
final polishing is done with tissue paper. I receive 
twenty-five cents an hour for this work." 

WASHING CUT GLASS 

" My pin-money has been earned by caring for 
costly cut glass owned by wealthy women in our 
city. It has been my duty to attend to the wash- 
ing of this glass, and putting it away after 
receptions. The glass is washed in lukewarm 
water, to which a little bluing has been added, 
and it is then dried with a soft towel and polished 
with tissue paper." 

CLEANING SILVER 

" I have built up a nice little business by clean- 
ing silver in households where insufficient or in- 
competent help made this task an arduous one." 

OVERSIGHT OF APARTMENT HOUSE 

" A part of each day is devoted to the general 
oversight of a large apartment house in our city. 
The first day of each month the rent is collected, 
vacant apartments are leased, complaints are in- 



FOR VARYING TASTES 243 

vestigated and needed repairs are attended to. 
For this work I am paid $30.00 a month." 

CARING FOR PRIVATE LIBRARIES 

" My pin-money comes in rather slowly, but 
surely. My work is that of caring for private 
libraries, the dusting, arranging, and cataloguing 
of books, for which I am paid fifty cents an hour." 

GUIDE AND CHAPERONE 

" For several years I have been acting in the 
capacity of a guide. Strangers coming to New 
York are often afraid to go about alone, and 
cannot possibly see the many places of interest 
in a limited time, when she is visiting in the city. 

" I have chaperoned girls on their shopping 
expeditions. I have acted as a companion to 
semi-invalids who were traveling for their health, 
and who had only a few hours in our city in which 
to see many interesting places, before continuing 
on their journey. 

" I have met strangers at the incoming trains, 
and have secured desirable rooms and board in 
comfortable lodging-houses in advance for them. 

" This is interesting and at the same time re- 
munerative work for a woman. I have secured 
much of this work by registering at the Young 
Women's Christian Association, also by advertising 



244 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

in the religious papers, and placing my cards in 
the hotels." 

MADE PUFFS AND SWITCHES 

In a Texas town of 6,000 inhabitants, two 
women made in two years over #400 pin-money 
by weaving puffs and switches out of hair (cut 
and combings). This, too, without neglecting 
their regular occupations and without any canvas- 
sing or advertising. Those who patronized them 
brought the work to the house and came after 
it when it was finished, so that the workers did 
not have to spend any time delivering the goods. 
By judicious advertising and a house to house 
canvass the work would have proven even more 
lucrative. But they only took what came to them. 

A girl could go into a large city and learn the 
tricks of this trade in a few weeks, as the de- 
mand for false hair seems to be increasing every 
season. Another sister took up shampooing and 
hair-dressing and the work dovetailed with that 
of her sisters. They also kept on hand a good 
supply of bottled brilliantine, shampoo powder, 
Castile jelly for shampoo, etc., which they sold 
to customers at an advanced price. It is a nice, 
clean business to start in at home, and if the 
opportunity presents itself, a girl could soon open 
a shop of her own. 



FOR VARYING TASTES 245 

WASHING SWEATERS 

" I live in a city of medium size and I have 
made much more than ' pin-money ' by washing 
wool sweaters. I make a nominal charge of fifty 
cents for each sweater, and have all the work 
that I can do in my spare time. I make it a point 
to wash two on the same afternoon, and I often 
have four or five dollars a week for my little 
work. I went to the high school and college in 
my town and secured one or two orders from 
teachers and pupils, and in that way I have 
started up a big and paying business. This is 
how I do the work with little manual labor. 

" Six pails of warm water; six teaspoonfuls of 
powdered borax; six teaspoonfuls of spirits of 
ammonia (not household ammonia) and one cake 
of white soap. I have the water real warm, 
but not hot enough to scald the hands, and dis- 
solve the soap and borax in it. Then add the 
ammonia just before using. The sweater must 
be soused up and down and squeezed gently — 
it must never be rubbed or squeezed hard. When 
all dirt is gone, rinse in first one warm water and 
then another, until the water is perfectly clear 
after the last rinsing. 

" Put the wet sweater in a large old pillow case, 
and pin the pillow case on the line where the wind 
and sun will get at it. Sometimes it takes two 



246 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

days to dry thoroughly, but when it comes out, 
its shape is perfect, and the wool is soft and shi- 
ning, just like new. I have also washed gray and 
white flannel trousers, and wool shawls after this 
recipe and have never had a failure." 

S. S. 

CLEANING GLOVES 

" Glove cleaning will interest some girls. I 
would suggest a charge of ten cents, fifteen cents 
and twenty-five cents, according to the length 
of the gloves. 

" Over $100.00 have been earned by me this 
year, cleaning gloves. Light colored gloves I put 
into a fruit jar, cover with gasoline, screw on the 
cover, and allow them to stand for several hours. 
When removed from the jar, they are put on the 
hands and gently rubbed with a clean towel. 
When washing chamois gloves, do not rub them 
but squeeze them tightly in the hand. They are 
to be washed in several waters, all soapy. The 
soap left in the gloves keeps them soft. After 
working the hand into the gloves, to get them 
into shape, dry in the air away from the heat." 

CARRIAGE SERVICE 

" My home was a mile from the depot, at the 
top of a long hill, in Massachusetts. Many 



FOR VARYING TASTES 247 

beautiful homes are on this hill and a large sani- 
tarium is at the top. As I owned two horses and 
a comfortable carriage, I established a sort of 
hack service back and forth to the trains. My 
charge was fifteen cents for a trip up the hill, 
or twenty-five cents for evening calls. Between 
the hours of three and seven I averaged from 
#3.00 to $10.00 daily. My work was outdoor work 
and healthy, and I averaged more than most 
stenographers." 

PACKAGE DELIVERY 

" While every woman cannot do outdoor work 
more than two hours a day, I want to say that I 
am doing very well in my spare time by running 
a ten cent package delivery. 

'' This idea occurred to me while visiting the 
Commercial Delivery Auto Show. My entire 
savings amounted to four hundred dollars and 
I invested it in a ' Pony Auto,' and hired a 
boy to run it four trips a day. When down town, 
doing my marketing, I canvass the people with 
whom I trade, to give me their special work and 
I am now doing a nice little business, as well 
as all the housework for a family of five." 

VISITING HOUSEKEEPER 

" I can recommend the position of a visiting 
housekeeper to women, as the work is interesting, 



248 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

devoid of monotony and the compensation lib- 
eral. 

" I am at present acting in the capacity of a 
visiting housekeeper to three families. Two hours 
a day are devoted to each, the daily menus pre- 
pared, the house thoroughly gone over, and the 
daily marketing attended to. 

" The salary paid is never less than #40.00 a 
month from each family." 

HOME ASSISTANT 

" My work is that of an ' aid,' or general home 
assistant. Each day's work varies greatly; one 
morning a week is spent in cleaning silver for a 
wealthy woman in our city. Two evenings a 
week are spent with a frail little woman, whose 
husband's business keeps him in town these 
two evenings. Several hours a week are devoted 
to reading to convalescents. 

" I have also mothered a family of small chil- 
dren, a week at a time, while their own tired 
mother was on a little restful trip. I am called 
upon to assist in the packing of trunks, and in 
the closing of a home when a family is leaving 
for a trip abroad; to assist in the kitchen when 
the cook suddenly leaves, and in fact to do any 
and all kinds of work, which I am capable of 
performing. 



FOR VARYING TASTES 249 

" My days are never monotonous and, in a 
measure, my time is my own, as I am free to 
accept or refuse the many calls made upon me 
daily. As considerable time is lost between the 
various appointments, and my work is outside the 
ordinary, my charges are fifty cents an hour." 

SANITARY LAUNDRY 

In the east, a capable little woman has decided 
to open a " sanitary laundry." She will dry all 
clothing in the sun, and become, in this way, a 
public benefactor. 

In hundreds of laundries, linen is dried in close 
rooms, and instead of being returned to its pos- 
sessor cleansed from all impurities, as well as 
from actual visible dirt, it absorbs additional 
ones, and becomes a source of disease. 

Those people who are unable to inhale pure 
air, and derive benefit from the warm, life-giving 
rays of the sun, owing to ill health, should be 
particularly careful to have their clothes washed 
and dried out-of-doors, in order that the air may 
thoroughly purify them. A sanitary laundry 
will have the endorsement of all physicians in 
your city and by the Board of Health. 

In connection with such a laundry, a "mending 
department " might be suggested, where " bache- 
lors' buttons " will be gratuitously supplied. 



250 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

FIVE AND TEN CENT STORE 

Three dollars to fifteen dollars a week is the 
income from a little five and ten cent store. 
There is such a demand for ten cent articles, 
that every town in the United States should have 
a five and ten cent store. Jewelry, ribbons, 
laces, collars, and notions are quickly sold. Also 
china, glass, tinware, toys, bon-bons, stationery, 
etc. 

UPHOLSTERING AND RENOVATING FURNITURE 

" Awnings and slip covers will bring in the dol- 
lars. Upholstery work of all kinds is most remu- 
nerative. Last summer, while traveling, I picked 
up several pieces of well-preserved old mahogany. 
Several fine old beds were bought for $10.00 each. 
These sold in turn for $35.00 to $50.00 each. 
Three swell-front bureaus were bought at a total 
cost of $23.00; these sold for nearly $100.00 to 
individual collectors of old antique furniture. 
A few fine chairs were bought at a low figure, 
and a spinning-wheel. Also a very finely preserved 
dulcimer was bought for $3.00; this can be sold 
for $100.00 when re-polished." 

SELLING OLD-FASHIONED FURNITURE 

" I have been successful in collecting a quantity 
of well-preserved mahogany furniture at auctions 



FOR VARYING TASTES 251 

I have attended. While traveling through Penn- 
sylvania, I bought a beautiful, large, swell- 
front mahogany bureau, with the hand-carved 
posts on either side, for #7.00. This sold later 
for #35.00. A #10.00 ' Grandfather's Clock ' was 
disposed of for #25.00; several four-post bedsteads 
were sold at a handsome profit. 

" I am planning to go into the collection of 
antiques to a considerable extent, as there is 
a good profit to be made on the real, old-fashioned 
furniture." 

CORSET AGENCY 

Last summer two school teachers, who were 
worn by their school duties, decided to earn 
their vacation money in an entirely different 
manner. They secured the agency for a high 
grade corset, and the summer was spent at a 
mountain resort. The guests in the hotel were 
only too glad to be able to secure a fresh pair of 
perfectly fitting corsets, in the middle of the 
season without having to take a trip to town. 

These teachers were successful from the start 
because they carried an article needed by every 
woman in the hotel. Broken corsets were also 
mended and silk lacings sold. 

The manufacturer allowed very liberal com- 
missions on all sales made. 



252 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

CANVASSING FOR MAGAZINES 

" From personal experience I know that a 
comfortable amount of pin-money may be ob- 
tained by canvassing for two or three of the 
popular magazines. I do not advise trying to 
introduce a new publication, but rather select 
two or more of the most widely circulated and 
popular magazines containing several depart- 
ments which appeal to the housewife and home- 
maker. 

" The price of these is within reach of every 
woman. I find that I often place two or three 
with each lady, offering her a club rate. You need 
not be an experienced canvasser to do this work, 
and you will be surprised to see how soon you 
become expert. I advise the timid girl to start 
among her personal friends and acquaintances, 
then, as her courage increases, gradually extend 
her territory. After the first month the work 
will become fascinating. 

" Aim to build up a permanent business by 
keeping books, and record each subscription with 
date, thus making it easy to secure all renewals 
before the subscription expires. Work with a 
clear conscience, for you are doing a splendid work 
placing good reading in many homes. The friends 
you make on your first visits will gladly welcome 
you when you call again to secure renewals." 



FOR VARYING TASTES 253 

SOLICITING ADVERTISEMENTS 

" There is no more satisfactory way of earning 
money than through the soliciting of advertise- 
ments. The remuneration is generous. The field 
is almost unlimited. One may work successfully 
in a variety of ways. 

" I was living in a city. I asked the editor 
of a country paper in another part of the state 
to send me his advertising rates, and also asked 
if he would allow me twenty-five per cent, on all 
advertising contracts I might secure. I gave 
some study to the kind of advertisements which 
would meet the needs of the people in the locality 
covered by the paper. In two weeks I had earned 
#20. I then began working for a local magazine 
which would appeal to another class of advertisers, 
and in this connection, successfully started a page 
of insurance cards, also a hotel and restaurant 
directory. Some advertisements were secured 
wholly by correspondence. I was obliged to give 
up the work after a few weeks, but my experience 
convinced me that there is c money in it.' Every 
paper wants new advertisements. Every adver- 
tiser is ready to hear about a new medium. 

" As one example of what it is possible to do 
along this line, an acquaintance, a young woman, 
who afterward chose to devote some spare time 
to the work, placed two hundred dollars' worth of 



254 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

advertising for one paper, a country daily, in 
a short time." C. H. M. 

SOLICITING ADVERTISING NO. 2 

Among the many ways of earning money for 
women, soliciting advertising has become popular 
and profitable. There are so many mediums, — 
programmes for church fairs, hospital entertain- 
ments, concert and theatrical programmes, etc., 
to say nothing of the daily papers and magazines. 
These offer a large and lucrative field of endeavor 
to the girl who is willing to work and who is not 
easily discouraged. If you work on a commission 
basis, the various publications pay as a rule 
twenty-five per cent, and in some cases more. If 
you select a magazine of general literature, you 
must be sure that the circulation is honest, and 
as quoted. Newspaper business, being local, is 
oftentimes a 1 better proposition, as this has a 
daily or weekly distribution. 

One of the most important things for a solicitor 
to know, is the class of people her proposition 
reaches. Secondly, a knowledge of the agencies 
placing the business. When you once secure an 
order for space in your publication, you are rea- 
sonably sure of securing this order again, and so 
your business and commissions will grow from 
year to year. 



FOR VARYING TASTES 255 

LAWYER'S SOLICITOR 

" By acting as a lawyer's solicitor, I have 
earned several hundred dollars during the past 
year. My father's lawyer agreed to pay me a 
commission on all new cases I could bring to 
his office, and I have been successful in sending 
many persons to him." 

INSURANCE WRITING 

Insurance writing will appeal to many women, 
because this work offers great opportunities 
to women who are capable and in earnest. Com- 
panies will grant one a special agency, provided 
that the locality is not already allotted to another. 
If a person is granted the only agency in a certain 
district, all business written in that territory 
is credited that office, no matter who may have 
written the business. A woman can earn from 
$500 to $2500 a year writing life, fire, burglary, 
disability, plate-glass, and marine insurance, 
according to the amount of time she devotes 
to it. 

CORRESPONDENCE COURSES 

" I would recommend a correspondence course 
to any woman who is interested in going into the 
real estate business. A course of this kind would 
fit one in a year to accept a salaried position with 



256 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

some first-class concern. The real estate business 
embraces buying, selling, leasing, and exchanging 
of properties; also managing, appraising, mort- 
gaging, building, and auctioneering. One's income 
is based on salary and commission. 

" Thousands of women are learning to do 
many seemingly difficult things by a system of 
correspondence. The courses of instruction in 
which young women mostly enroll, are Architec- 
tural Drawing, Freehand Drawing, Illustrating, 
Interior Decorating, Stenography, Millinery, 
Dressmaking, and Music. 

" Hundreds of girls who are clever with their 
needles, with just a little pertinent instruction 
can turn their ability into actual money." 

A GIFT SHOP 

From Boston comes the suggestion of a " Gift 
Shop " as a pleasant and sure way for a refined 
girl to be self-supporting. Make fancy articles 
of all kinds, which will serve as pretty gifts; also 
ask others to bring in their own work, selling 
same on commission. An announcement of your 
" Gift Shop " can be made in the local papers, 
and an attractive sign put where it will be readily 
seen. In connection with the " Shop " it is sug- 
gested that tea, cocoa, sandwiches, and cake, or 
the delicious wafers made by the Johnson Educa- 



FOR VARYING TASTES 257 

tor Food Company, be served from four to six 
o'clock. 

DEMONSTRATOR 

The services of a demonstrator are required 
in every city and town in the United States. 
New foods, kitchen cutlery, dress trimmings, hair 
ornaments, corsets, etc., are constantly being 
placed upon the market, and clever demonstrators 
are needed to bring these goods to the attention 
of prospective buyers. Any capable, self-reliant 
woman can succeed as a demonstrator, and the 
amount of money earned depends upon the num- 
ber of hours daily a person can devote to the work. 

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE BARBER 

" My work is that of a house-to-house barber. 
I have made a special study of children's hair- 
cutting. Women of means greatly prefer to have 
their hair dressing done in their own homes, and 
appointments are so numerous, I have been forced 
to engage the services of two capable women 
assistants." 

A HOUSEKEEPERS' SALE 
Miss B. could not leave home to earn money 
on account of an invalid mother. She had several 
small talents, or at least what she called small 



258 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

talents, so she solved the problem in a satisfac- 
tory manner and earned a good income. She was 
very deft with her fingers; she was also a good 
cook, and besides she had a brain stored with 
some new ideas. She did different things at differ- 
ent seasons; thus she had a constant change of 
work which made it less tiresome and more 
profitable. 

During the summer months she sat on her 
shady veranda, but her fingers were never idle 
for a moment. The most of the things she made 
were of a practical sort used in almost every 
home, from tea towels, iron-holders, crocheted 
wash-cloths to sheets and table napery. In the 
line of the latter there were doilies and center- 
pieces, one or two hemstitched tablecloths, and 
sideboard scarfs. She made aprons of all sorts, 
from the ample gingham aprons to dainty white 
ones, also dust caps; bags of every description, 
practical bags being in the majority, such as 
dust and laundry bags, bags to protect dress 
skirts, ironing boards and mattresses; good col- 
lections of sofa cushions and pillows, some that 
required little work and some that required more. 
In the late fall she had what she called a " House- 
keepers' Tea." She sent out printed invitations 
to her friends and the housekeepers of the com- 
munity, and as an extra inducement she adver- 



FOR VARYING TASTES 259 

tised tea and wafers free to all who came. One 
room in her home was cleared of furniture for 
the occasion. Most of the articles were attached 
to lines stretched across the room by means of 
clothes-pins, the rest were placed on tables to the 
best advantage. All articles were plainly marked 
with the price, allowing a fair profit for her work. 
These sales proved most profitable, and became 
very popular with the housewives of that little town. 

HOLIDAY SALE 

If your money is to come from a holiday sale, 
remember that women as a rule want practical 
things. Make a specialty of things costing from 
twenty-five cents to #2.00. Make several articles 
alike; for instance, make six dainty corset covers, 
and they will sell readily. 

Buy up a dozen photograph frames of wood, 
and cover with bright cretonne. If you cannot 
buy the wooden frames, get your carpenter to 
cut you out a dozen, which will only cost a few 
cents. If these are covered with pretty, inexpen- 
sive material, they can sell at a good profit for 
twenty-five cents to fifty cents each. Dainty 
dressing-sacks and kimonos can be made from 
cotton crepe and sell for $1.00 each. It will 
only take three yards of crepe, and the facings 
can be of contrasting colored lawn, or cheap 



260 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

China silk. Next in importance come the bags 
for all purposes, sewing-baskets, and pincushions, 
also bureau trimmings. The flower table and the 
candy table always attract a crowd. I would 
suggest that tea and wafers be served free, as a 
little courtesy of this kind will go far toward 
insuring a goodly attendance. 

MINT FOR HOTELS 
An enterprising young woman living near 
New York City is selling fresh mint to hotels, 
clubs, and cafes. She has also sold considerable 
candied mint, and has many orders booked for 
next season's crop. 

PRIVATE AUCTIONEERING 
" I once knew a woman in a college town who 
made a comfortable living for three by what 
might be called private auctioneering. Once a 
month she visited every family, took a list of 
what they wished to sell (in the way of house- 
furnishings especially), also what they would like 
to buy second-hand. Those who sold paid her 
twenty per cent., the buyers paid nothing, but 
for the delivery of the goods, but everyone 
patronized her, as it was quicker and less trouble 
than a public sale, especially if there were only a 
few articles to dispose of. 

" Just now when there is a strong demand for 



FOR VARYING TASTES 261 

all old-fashioned furniture, this business offers 
great possibilities for a woman. The whole 
country is flooded with unscrupulous buyers, 
looking for rare antiques, not only in furniture, 
but in linen, silver, pewter, copper, etc. In this 
private auctioneering a girl herself thus becomes 
the middleman, makes a good commission and 
sees that both buyer and seller get a square deal. 

" I had another friend who acted as a middle- 
man in a slightly different way. She opened a 
small tea room in her own home, and furnished 
the room with odd bits of old furniture, etc. 
Customers coming in to tea saw these antiques 
and purchased them of her. She made a good 
yearly income in this way. Her tea room more 
than paid for itself, and the commissions received 
from the sale of the antiques was considerable. 
She did not leave her own home to do this. She 
was the mother of three children, all of whom 
went to school, and as the customers only patron- 
ized the tea rooms during the afternoon hours, she 
was able to do all of her own housework. 

" The curtains in the tea room were of old- 
fashioned bed spreads, the walls were hung with 
old prints, pewter mugs adorned the mantelpiece, 
even the tea was served in odd cups and saucers 
of ancient date. Every article was for sale, and 
all of them brought good prices." 



262 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

A CLASS BOOK 

" During my graduation year at college, it 
occurred to me, that an attractively arranged 
6 Class Book ? would be appreciated by my class- 
mates, and that a book of this kind could be made 
to bring me in a little much needed pin-money. 

" Accordingly I set to work. The pages were 
a heavy, dull finished paper, bound together by 
ribbons in our class colors, and each page was 
devoted to some interesting event which had taken 
place during the year. 

" Every member of the class purchased a copy 
of the book, and a nice little sum was cleared 
above the cost of getting the book out." 

LOCAL REPORTING 

" I have been able to earn a good many dollars 
at home, in the last two years, writing news items 
from my home town to two city papers. I wrote 
to several papers and was finally appointed repre- 
sentative of two, which pays me from #10 to #20 
a month. Almost any newspaper is glad to have 
a representative in every town within a certain 
range of their city and they pay from $2 to #4 
a column for news and personals for the Sunday 
editions. With a telephone in the house any 
woman can soon get hold of these items. She can 
let people know she wants news and it will come 



FOR VARYING TASTES 263 

to her. In case of any sent out of the regular 
order, you can make several dollars out of the one 
piece of news. Many papers also take pictures 
of interesting things at the same rate per column." 

Mrs. J. A. H. 

WRITING FOR NEWSPAPERS 

" Early in January, a year ago, I looked for- 
ward to February 12, for I lived in a territory 
where Lincoln had spent his boyhood. The many 
anecdotes connected with his interesting, ambi- 
tious youth have been spun into yarns and these 
yarns spun into stories by high-salaried writers. 
I was trying to make a name in journalism. I 
was well acquainted with a number of the boy- 
hood friends of the old war President, ' boys ' 
who are tottering and feeble to-day. I called 
upon them and, after several days, set to work 
with a note-book full of stories. The stories I 
produced from my notes proved acceptable to 
a dozen newspapers at eight dollars a column. 
Since then I have been making money as a news- 
paper writer." 

C. L. 

TYPEWRITING POEMS 

," I type-wrote poems and selections for public 
school days such as Washington's birthday, 



264 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

Lincoln's day, Christmas, April 19, etc. I made 
covers for these of thick paper and tied them with 
raffia and sold them very readily at twenty-five 
cents each to teachers." M. L. T. 

COLLECTING RECIPES 

" I asked each of my friends to give me 
several of their choicest recipes. These I type- 
wrote, using transfer paper and thus making 
ten copies at once. Afterwards I arranged the 
pages, putting pies, puddings, and candy recipes 
together, and made a cover of white oil-cloth, 
fastening the pages together with brass screw 
heads. These books I sold for thirty-five cents 
apiece." C. D. D. 

SELLING POPCORN ON TRAINS 

In Lowell, Mass., a man has made a comfort- 
able fortune selling freshly buttered and salted 
popcorn, on the trains, while they are stopping 
at the station. When every train draws into the 
Lowell station, he takes his large basket filled 
with five cent packages, quickly through the train, 
and always does a good business. 

Another boy is supporting his mother by selling 
sandwiches and fruit on the trains. The sand- 
wiches are wrapped in oiled paper and sell for 



FOR VARYING TASTES 265 

ten cents and fifteen cents each. The oranges 
are five cents each. Fully three hundred per cent, 
profit is made on every sale. 

MAKING MAPLE SUGAR 

" I am a New England woman. On our farm 
are some seventy-five sugar maples. From each 
tree we secure from three to four pounds of sugar. 
This maple sugar is all shipped to New York 
City, and I am thus supplied with a little spending 
money each Christmas." 

SHIRT-WAIST BOXES 

" From plain white, thirty-five cent China mat- 
ting, and dry-goods boxes, I have made shirt- 
waist boxes which sell for $5.00 each. The inside 
of the box is lined with cambric. A piece of stiff 
cardboard is covered neatly with the cambric and 
fitted into the bottom of the box. 

" The top, bottom, and sides of the box are 
finished with a neat molding. Two brass handles 
and a brass knob on the lid give the box an ar- 
tistic finish. It costs less than two dollars to 
make each box." 

LIMING EGGS 

" I have earned a little pin-money by buying 
eggs cheaply in the late spring or summer and 



266 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

preserving them fresh in strong lime water until 
the late fall, when they sell for double the purchase 
price." 

BAKING POWDER 

If you wish to earn a little pin-money, why 
not make and sell your own baking powder? 
You can make the very best at one half the 
price charged by the trade, for the standard makes. 

MENDING CHINA 

" Allow me to offer a suggestion to the girls 
who wish to earn a little spending money. Pur- 
chase a bottle of the best cement on the market, 
and send announcements to your friends or ac- 
quaintances, that you are prepared to mend their 
fine china, vases, and bric-a-brac of all kinds. 
You will be amazed to see how the orders will 
come in and the pennies accumulate." 

HOT AIR BALLOONS 

An invalid boy states that he has earned 
about $25.00 during the year by making hot 
air balloons for the Fourth of July. These cost 
very little to make and sell for a good price. 

TRACING ANCESTRY 

" I have had considerable experience in tracing 
ancestry back to Revolutionary stock and as 



FOR VARYING TASTES 267 

this work is delightful to me, I have traced the 
ancestry of many of my girl friends, who were 
desirous of joining the t order of the Daughters 
of the American Revolution. Of course the time 
devoted to this work is paid for." 

FORTUNE TELLING 

" I have earned quite a little pin-money telling 
fortunes with cards, and by reading the hands. 
I purchased two books; one gave the meanings of 
the cards, and the other thoroughly explained 
the lines and formation of the hand. At first the 
meanings had to be written on the back of each 
card, but in a few weeks I was able to memorize 
these. 

" I have been engaged for many little social 
gatherings, as there is a great deal of fun to be 
derived from telling one's fortune, and the young 
people are glad to pay me for this work." 

ORIENTAL RUG BUYING 

Select from among your acquaintances those 
who appreciate Oriental rugs. Everyone who 
buys carpets has the means to purchase rugs of 
this kind, for they can buy one piece at a time 
and they wear for three or four generations and 
are much more economical in the end. 

Send these friends a card, which will read like 
this: 



268 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

" Miss having made connections with 

of New York City, Constantinople, and 



Tabriz, is now ready to consider the spaces in the 
home you would like covered with Oriental rugs. 
Will call upon request. 

" Signed, Respectfully yours, 



After receiving a request to call, look carefully 
into the color treatment of the room or hall, 
where you are to place the rug pieces. Note 
size of space to be covered, etc., leaving a 
fair margin of floor space. When you have re- 
ceived a sufficient number of prospective orders, 
you should visit the city and arrange with the 
firms, from whom you expect to purchase the 
rugs at wholesale, and select the various pieces 
that you need, and have them charged on approval 
to your account, you having previously established 
a credit with the firm. Ship these rugs by ex- 
press to your town. 

When the prices are fixed, the expenses of the 
trip are to be charged in the bill. The profit 
made by most Oriental rug houses vary from 
fifty per cent, to one hundred per cent. You 
can arrange to sell rugs on commission, but it is 
better to buy your rugs at wholesale and make 



FOR VARYING TASTES 269 

your own profit. If you have not sufficient 
working capital, the commission arrangement 
will do until you have saved enough to handle 
your own trade. 

SHOPPING ON COMMISSION 

" In our city we find any number of women 
supporting themselves by doing shopping for 
ladies who do not wish to take the time or be 
bothered about the many small things to be 
purchased. Hence they employ a shopping agent. 

" Any house in business will allow you ten per 
cent, and even more if you will give them your 
business. You can open a charge account, and 
when you have demonstrated your ability to 
pay your bills promptly at the end of each month, 
you can secure an unlimited credit. 

" In this way you can handle anything that 
goes into the home and your income is in propor- 
tion to the amount of work done." 

A JACK OF ALL TRADES 

" I have earned money at home and without 
encroaching on time needed for domestic affairs 
ever since I married, and I have been a wife for 
nearly thirty-five years. I imagine it is now a 
fixed habit. I have had no specialty, but have kept 
on the lookout for opportunities to earn and have 
seized them as they came. I have found getting 



270 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

up clubs for publications always an easy and pro- 
fitable way of earning. Yet I have not gone away 
from my home in the work. I have gathered in 
pin-money in this way by using the mail, the 
telephone, and by requesting visitors to examine 
my stock of magazines and enter my list. 

" I enjoy puzzles, both making and solving, and 
I have earned much money by conducting puz- 
zle departments in magazines, by unraveling prize 
puzzles, and by making puzzles. I still follow 
this line of work. I have written for household 
departments of magazines and have sold, perhaps, 
forty short stories and, strange though it sounds, 
have actually sold two poems. 

" I have kept hens and bees, and both were 
profitable. I have taken care of young children 
when their mothers desired to go shopping, or to 
theaters, or on visits. My charge was small, five 
cents an hour, but it helped. I tried to keep up 
with any fad that was going, and my friends and 
customers came to understand I was to be relied 
upon for a pretty, up-to-date birthday, wedding, 
or holiday present. When delicate, hand-painted 
glasses were so popular, I sold two hundred, 
in addition to plates and other ware. I have 
lately been equally successful with burnt wood- 
work. 

" I have made aprons for shop girls, overalls 



FOR VARYING TASTES 271 

for workingmen, and boarded pet animals. I 
know this is the age of specialization, but, from my 
own experience and from witnessing the costly- 
failures of many experiments along some one line 
of work, I have come to believe that each woman 
can earn an appreciable amount of cash, enough 
to lubricate, as it were, an otherwise narrow and 
barren life, by keeping her eyes open to see each 
opportunity." A Grandmother. 

ODD JOBS 

" Little odd jobs have furnished me with my 
pin-money; dingy gilt frames have been freshened 
with one part vinegar and three parts water. I 
have mended metal and glass articles with melted 
alum. Old mahogany furniture has been reno- 
vated and old wicker furniture has been stained 
or enamelled, while the cushions have been covered 
with bright cretonne. 

" I have also stained floors, using one quart 
of boiled linseed oil combined with a half of a 
fifteen cent can of cherry red paint, or any other 
color of paint may be used as desired. This 
stain is applied with a brush and thoroughly 
rubbed in, by hand." 

PRUNING 

" A pair of sharp pruning shears, a thin pruning 
saw, and some grafting wax, have been my only 



272 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

working tools. The pruning is done in the late 
fall or early spring. 

" To prune fruit trees, hedges, roses, etc., in an 
intelligent way, one should spend several weeks 
in the public library, reading up the subject 
carefully. I have earned over #20.00 this season 
by this work." 

TRAINING DWARF TREES 

" You will possibly consider my work as un- 
usual, but it is truly interesting, and well paid. 
It is that of training dwarf fruit trees to grow like 
vines, on a trellis. Trees thus trained bear 
larger and better fruit, than the standard trees. 
Some of my trees have borne fruit the year they 
were planted." 

A PLAN TO MAKE MONEY GROW 
On April first of a certain year, a meeting of a 
" Ladies' Aid Society " was held, after a startling 
announcement, as to its great secrecy had been 
made. Each person present was given a new 
five-cent piece, and asked to make it grow to 
five dollars. 

One young lady met a member of the Society, 
who had not attended the meeting. Immedi- 
ately the question arose: "What was the pur- 
pose of this meeting?" In reply she was told 



FOR VARYING TASTES 273 

she could have the desired information, provided 
she was willing to pay for it. 

She willingly gave the five cents. Then two others 
were told the secret on payment of one cent each. 
Now the five cents had grown to twelve cents; 
this capital was invested in sugar and molasses, 
which were turned into molasses candy, and sold 
by the five cents' worth. The five cents had now 
grown to sixty cents. 

The present capital of sixty cents was invested 
in "buttercups;" a fine quality of hard surface 
candy enclosing a soft center of finely chopped 
nuts. These were purchased from a wholesale 
confectioner for sixty cents for five pounds. 
Before these were purchased, orders for the five 
pounds were solicited, thus making sure of their 
sale beforehand. The buttercups were sold for 
thirty cents a pound, making a profit of eighteen 
cents on each pound. The bulk of the work now 
was to secure the orders for five-pound lots. 
Each lot made a profit of ninety cents. In a short 
time, however, the $5.00 was made. 

A second lady sold her information regarding 
the meeting and put the profit of her five cent 
secret into flour, yeast, salt, etc. These she made 
into bread and rolls. 

Fortunately she had, as a next-door neighbor, 



274 PIN-MONEY SUGGESTIONS 

a boarding-house keeper. Students of a near-by 
college lived there. 

The landlady gladly bought all the excellent 
rolls and bread which her neighbor could make, 
and was well rewarded in the fine quality of the 
goods that she was able to purchase at store 
prices, and at her very door. Her guests soon 
consumed enough to make a profit of five dollars, 
and the impromptu baker gave up her labors, 
much to their dismay. 

Another lady came from the meeting with a 
tight grip on her secret. She would not give it 
up to any one without a return of at least five or 
ten cents. In this way she made quite a little 
capital before she began to use it. 

With the amount thus secured (about sixty 
cents) she was ready to begin work in earnest. 

She purchased first-class materials and began to 
make her finest cakes, that were readily sold to 
her friends. The excellent quality of her products 
brought large profits on the money invested. 

In a very short time the $5.00 were ready to 
turn over to the treasurer; it took such a short 
time to make the five dollars, that the baker 
continued her two-fold good work, that of good 
cakes for the community and of making money 
for herself. 



FOR VARYING TASTES 275 

" Last Christmas our Sunday School class 
raised a little over $10.00 by purchasing a bag 
of roasted peanuts at wholesale and selling them 
in our town in quart bags, at ten cents each. 

" The peanuts were sold in two days and enough 
money raised to pay for a suit of clothes for a boy 
our class was supporting in the south." 

ANOTHER WAY 

We were building a new church and the Ladies' 
Sewing Circle had agreed to raise some money to 
help out. Every member of the congregation was 
asked to contribute one or more of their choicest 
recipes, and to secure as many more as possible 
from outsiders. 

A hustling advertising solicitor was engaged, 
and every firm in town was called upon and asked 
to take even a little space in the new cook-book 
we were preparing. 

The result was that we secured over $1000 in 
advertising, and we sold two thousand copies of 
the cook-book at twenty-five cents a copy. As 
the printer's bill was only #125 we were able to 
contribute $1175 to the church fund, $200 having 
been paid our advertising solicitor. 



INDEX 



Accompanist, piano, 213 
Advertising, soliciting, 253, 254 
Agency, corset, 251 
Almonds, salted, 44 
Amusing invalids, 223 
Ancestry, tracing, 266 
Anti-odorin, 55 
Apple growing, 113 
Artichoke, Globe, 93 
Asparagus, 93 
Asters, 129 
Auctioneering, private, 260, 261 

Bags, cretonne, 72 

laundry, 75 
Baking powder, 266 
Balloons, hot air, 266 
Barber, house-to-house, 257 
Barn, renting, 233 
Beans, 94 

and brown bread, 26 
Bees, honey, 159 
Beets, 94 

Birds, canary, 165, 166-167 
Biscuit, Southern beaten, 23 
Blackberries, no 
Black-caps, in 
Bleach, complexion, 52 
Boarders, keeping, 228, 229 



Boarders, tent, 231 
Book covers, linen, 74 
Botany classes, 219 
Brass work, 197 
Bread, Boston brown, 28 

whole wheat, 2 
Brussels sprouts, 94 
Bulbs, selling, 140 
Butter-scotch, 38 
Buttonholes at home, 76 

Cabbage, 94, 123 
Cake, birthday, 18 

spice, 10 

sponge, 9 

White Mountain, 19 
Camping site to let, 232 
Canary birds, 165, 166-167 
Candles, bayberry, 178-180 
Candle shades, 180 
Candy, chewing, 35, 40 

vinegar, 37 
Canvassing for magazines, 252 
Capes, Shaker, 71 
Capons, 151 
Caramels, 40 
Cards, dinner, tally and menu, 

188-193 
Carriage service, 246 



278 



INDEX 



Carrots, 95 
Cats, Persian, 164 
Cattle, 143-146 
Cauliflower, 95, 123 
Celery, 96 
Chains, daisy, 86 

forget-me-not, 85 
Chaperone, guide and, 243 
Chard, Swiss, 96 
Checkerberries, 111 
Cheese, cottage, 21 

English cream, 21 
Chestnuts, 141 
Chicks, 151 

Children's parties, 219, 224 
China, mending, 266 

painting, 187 
Chocolate chips, 40 
Class book, 262 
Cleaning, cut glass, 242 

gloves, 246 

silver, 242 

sweaters, 245 

windows, 242 
Coaching backward pupils, 215- 

216 
Cold cream, cucumber, 48 

lettuce, 53 
Collars, turn-over, 75 
Cooking, paper-bag, 224-226 

and marketing, 211 

for the sick, 10 
Corn, 96 

cake, 6 
Correcting school papers, 215 
Correspondence courses, 255 



Court plaster, English, 55 
Crocheted articles, 74 
Crocheting, home, 180 
Crumpets, 8 
Cucumbers, 96 
Currants, 104, 108 
Cut glass, cleaning, 242 

Dairy farming, 147 
Dancing lessons, 219 
Date creams, 39 
Deer farming, 160 
Demonstrator, 257 
Designing, 186 
Dessert, Sunday, 24 
Dewberry, 11 1 
Dogs, raising, 1 61-163 
Dolls (rag) and brownies, 68 

rag, 79 
Doughnuts, 6 
Drawing lessons, 221 
Dress form, renting, 234 
Dressmaker, dolls', 63-66 
Driving, riding and, 212 
Ducks, 157, 158 
Dyeing with paints, 181 

Eggplant, 97 
Eggs, liming, 265 
Embroideries for baby, 67 
Evaporating fruit, 15 

Farm, reclaiming neglected, 141 
Fern bowls, 138 
Figs, preserving, 14 
Filling, orange, 19 



INDEX 



279 



Fish-balls, 25 

Fishing tackle, supplying, 232 

Flowers, for profit, 124 

old-fashioned, 132 

wild, 136-137 
Flypaper, 239 
Fondant, $& 

uncooked, 39 
Fortune telling, 267 
Fox ranches, 161 
Fruit, 136, 137, 142 

glazed, 43 
Fudge, 37 

Furniture, selling old-fashioned, 
250 

upholstering and renovating, 
250 

Geese, 155 
Gingerbread, 9 
Ginger snaps, 9 
Gift shop, 256 
Gloves, cleaning, 246 

knitted, 87 
Goats, Angora, 153 

milch, 151 
Grape juice, 14 
Grapes, 105-107, 112 
Guide and chaperone, 243 
Guinea fowls, 159 

Herbs, 120 
Home assistant, 247 
Housekeeper, visiting, 24.7 
Housekeepers' sale, 257-259 
Huckaback vests, neckties and 
belts, 78 



Ice cream, home-made, 15 
Ice, delivering, 236 

making, 235 
Insurance writing, 255 
Invalids, amusing, 223 

Jack of all trades, 269 

Jelly, how to make and sell, 11- 

Jumbles, 8, 9 

Keeping boarders, 228, 229, 231 
Kindergarten, home, 217 

outdoor, 218 
Kisses, 40 

Knives, polishing, 240 
Kohl-rabi, 97 

Laundry, sanitary, 249 
Lawyers' solicitor, 255 
Layettes, infants', 70 
Leather work, 196 
Leaf prints, 183-186 
Lectures, nurses', 213 
Lettuce, 97, 121 
Lingerie, 69 
Lunch and dinner, 30 
Lunches, employees', 29 

oyster, 29 

picnic, 28 

quick, 30 

school, 29 

Manicuring, 59-60 
Maple sugar, 265 
Marketing, cooking and, 211 
Marshmallows, 43 



280 



INDEX 



Massage, science of, 55-59 
Mending and remodeling, 66 
Metal, etched, 205-210 
Millinery, amateur, 79 
Mint for hotels, 260 
Mirrors, old-fashioned, 195 
Modeling, clay, 195 
Muffins, English, 4 

Graham, 4 

raised, 2 

sweet corn, 3 
Mushroom culture, 115-119 
Music lessons, 221 
Muskmelons, 98 

Neckties, 77 

huckaback, 78 
Nurses' lectures, 213 
Nurses' outfits, 71 
Nuts, blanched, 44 

glace, 43 

hickory, 142 

sugared or salted, 44 

Odd jobs, 271 
Onions, 98 
Oranges, 142 

Oversight of apartment houses, 
242 

Package delivery, 247 
Painting china, 187 
Paper-bag cooking, 224-226 
Parsley, 98 
Parsnips, 98 
Pastiles, 54 
Peanut butter, 29 



Peas, 99 

Peonies, i33-!35 
Peppermint, 120 

cream, 36 

sticks, 36 
Photographs, how to color, 198- 

205 
Photography, 193, 194 
Piano accompanist, 213 
Piccalilli, 20 . 
Pickles, 20 
Picture making, 220 
Pies, Jack Horner, 187 
Pigs, 156 
Pillows, 83 

rose, 83 
Pin-balls, 80 
Pin cushions, 79, 82 
Plan to make money grow, 272- 

275 
Plants, potted, 138-140 
Plaster, paper, 241 
Polishing knives, 240 

shoes, 241 
Pomade, cucumber, 48 
Popcorn balls, 41, 42 

crystallized, 42 

selling on trains, 264 
Pop-overs, 5 
Potato chips, 22 
Potatoes, 99 

sweet, 100 
Poultry, 148-15 1 
Powder, violet face, 48 
Preserving figs, 14 
Private libraries, caring for, 243 



INDEX 



281 



Prize-taker vegetables, 101-104 
Pruning, 271 
Pudding, plum, 7 

suet, 8 
Puffs and switches, making, 244 
Pyrography, 196 

Quilts, patchwork, 75 

Radishes, 99 
Raffia work, 87 
Raspberries, 109 
Recipes, collecting, 264 
Reclaiming neglected farm, 141 
Renting barn, 233 

camping site, 232 

dress form, 234 

fishing tackle, 233 

rooms, 229-231 

sailboat, 233 

sun umbrellas, 232 

tent, 231 

vacuum cleaner, 234 
Reporting, local, 262 
Rhubarb, 99 

winter, 122 
Ribbon novelties, 68 
Riding and driving, 212 
Rolls, graham, 6 
Rompers for children, 63 
Rugs, buying, 267-268 

for sale, 177 

making, 168, 169-178 

repairing Oriental, 84 

Sachet, 48, 49-52 
heliotrope, 47 



Sachet, lavender, 47 

rose, 47 

simple, 46 

violet, 47 
Sailboat, letting, 233 
Sale, holiday, 259 

housekeepers', 257-259 

rug, 177 
Sand-piles for children, 217 
Sausage king, 227-228 
Screens, 186 
Shampoo liquor, 54 
Seeds, selling, 140 
Sheep raising, 159 
Shirt-waist boxes, 265 

tailored, 62 
Shortcakes, individual, 19 
Shoes, polishing, 241 
Shop, gift, 256 

Shopping on commission, 269 
Silver, cleaning, 242 
Sleeping robes, 70 
Soap, making hard, 236-239 
Soliciting advertisements, 253, 

254 
for lawyers, 255 
Spinach, 100 
Squab raising, 152 
Squashes, 100 
Stamping, 186 
Stenciling, 182, 183 
Store, five and ten cent, 250 
Story- telling to children, 222, 223 
Strawberries, 104 
Sunbonnets, 73 
Sun hats, children's, 68 



282 



INDEX 



Sun umbrellas, renting, 232 
Sweaters, washing, 245 
Sweet peas, 125 
Sweet potatoes, 100 
Swimming classes, 213 
Switches and puffs, making, 244 

Taffy, molasses, $& 

Teaching delicate children, 215 

Tea plants, 1 20 

Tea room, 31, 32 

Tomato clubs, 114 

Tomatoes, 100 

Towels, baby's, 69 

Tracing ancestry, 266 

Travel class, 212 

Trees, training dwarf, 272 



Turkeys, 154 
Typewriting poems, 263 

Vacuum cleaning, 234 
Vegetables, prize- taker, 101-104 
Violet raising, 127, 128 

Wafers, Japanese tea, 16 

Philadelphia sand, 9 
Waffle kitchen, 17 
Walnuts, cream, 39 
Watercress, 123 
Whist, bridge, 214 

teaching, 214 
Wild flowers and fruits, 136-137 
Windows, cleaning, 242 
Writing for newspapers, 263 



MAY 28 1912 



